Nightmares and Flashbacks
by FlameRP
Summary: Korra's survived every bad experience she's been through and had seemingly got through all the nightmares and Flashbacks but years later the worst of it comes back to haunt the young avatar
1. Wake-up Call

**chapter one: wake-up call**

"aaaaaaahhhhhh" Korra screamed, jerking up in bed

"Mmmphh" a muffled voice groaned next to her, slender arms moving up to unwrap herself from the blankets and pelts she was wrapped up in, "Korra?" The woman's voice whispered

"Ugh" Korra groaned, still panting and trying to breathe deeply as Tenzin had instructed her to do so, "s..." She was hyperventilating and as such her words wouldn't come out. She wanted desperately to apologise for waking her girlfriend up but she was just as desperate, if not more so, to ask Asami to hold her tightly. "so..." she facepalmed in frustration at not even being able to speak

"it's otay, Korra" Asami whispered, trying to calm her panicking girlfriend down. It had been several years since Korra had had a dream like this and Asami couldn't help but wonder which it was, Amon, Unalaq, Vaatu, Zaheer, Kuvira, her Shadow self or Tokuga. Asami couldn't help but shed a few tears, as she always did when her Korra woke up screaming like she did moments ago. "Korra... I'm here"

Korra breathed in deeply when Asami began to rub her back, "t... Thank you" she gasped before she began to cry.

"Korra..." Asami whispered and pulled her girlfriend back into her arms and held the vulnerable avatar tightly, so tightly in fact that anyone less strong than Korra would have had difficulty breathing.

"it was horrible" Korra whispered, horribly aware that she'd probably woken the entire Sato mansion with her airbending enhanced scream

Sure enough there was a knock on the door seconds later and Senna poked her head around the door before she almost got barged out of the way by Tonraq who tore into the room topless, his hands encased in ice and prepared for battle. "are you alright, Korra?!" Senna inquired while looking daggers at her husband who looked a bit sheepish before he sat down on Korra and Asami's bed and began humming Korra's favourite tune.

"mom... Dad..." Korra whispered, "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"nonsense" Senna laughed, "the little tyke has been making sleep nigh on impossible"

"Oh?" Korra looked guiltily up at her mother

As if right on cue there was a flurry of movement outside the door before it got banged open again by two youngish children, Yue and Hiroshi. "mommy?" Yue, the older child called, slightly scared by Korra's crying. She had always thought that Korra was unstoppable and fearless.

"Mommy?" Hiroshi had jumped on to the bed and wriggled his way into his adoptive parents' arms, quickly followed by his older sister. They had both been found on the streets by Mako nearly a year ago and Mako had approached the girls first because he knew how desperately they both wanted children

"mommy's fine" Asami tried to soothe the children but neither looked convinced and were both hugging Korra tightly. Korra, Asami noticed had cried even more when she had the children in her arms.

"well at least..." Tonraq began before he was interrupted by a screaming cry, "spirits!" he exclaimed before he ran off and returned with Korra's sister in his arms. Tonraq and Senna were in their late forties and had sought Katara's advice before they conceived their second child nearly two years ago. Unbeknownst to everyone else outside of the family, Korra had a twin sister who had died shortly after birth, even Korra was unaware of this. Tonraq and Senna had intended to tell Korra when she reached the age of eighteen, but due to her experience at Zaheer's hands, they found themselves unable to do so. They simply could not justify adding another trauma to her growing list of traumas. Amon's revelation, Amon's ambush, Amon's bloodbending and success at breaking her connection with three of her four elements, Unalaq's kidnapping of Jinora, Vaatu's success at destroying Raava which Korra was powerless to prevent, her loss of her past lives, Zaheer's team's infiltration of Zaofu and kidnapping attempt, her and Asami's near death experience in the desert, Zaheer's attempt to kill her father, the red lotus' poison and Zaheer's attempted murder of her and the avatar cycle. They simply couldn't add yet another to that list, especially now they knew how their daughter reacted to trauma, they had, after all, been forced to watch their daughter sink further and further into despair and depression. They figured that Asami was the only reason she didn't give up completely, even if Korra wasn't consciously aware of that. He shared a look with Senna who looked back just as concerned before she walked over and poked little Mikiso on the nose

"Did your noisy sister wake you up?" Senna cooed to the baby and took her from her husband. She had mainly used that as an excuse to put some distance between herself and her daughters and grandchildren, "that dream was pretty awful" she whispered without moving her lips.

If Tonraq hadn't been standing as close as he was, he wouldn't have been able to hear that comment. "that narrows it down to one of three things then" Tonraq whispered back, following his wife's lead.

"yup" Senna lent forward to plant a kiss on Mikiso's cheek, "either something happened to Asami or the kids, or it was Zaheer, or..." neither of them dared mention it in present company else they might get awkward questions about why they'd both broken down from both Asami and Korra, as well as the kids.

"oh damn" Tonraq sighed. That was a day he wished he could forget, in a way he envied Korra and her amnesia about what had happened that day, even if she did still get terrifying dreams that she couldn't quite remember when she woke. "that was the worst day of my life" he sighed, a tear running down his cheek.

"don't I know it" Senna replied quietly, vaguely aware of the conversation over by the bed

"I remember red.. red snow... But nothing else" Korra had said to her girlfriend

"Shit" Tonraq muttered before Senna and he moved quickly out of the room and into the hallway, thankfully Korra and Asami were too busy looking into each other's eyes for comfort to notice

"well that proves it then" Senna muttered while she passed Lin's room, she was the only other person to know what had happened that day.

Tonraq knocked on the door, "come in" Lin's voice echoed out and when the door was opened and she saw who it was she whispered "again? After all these years?" she had obviously been woken up by the very same scream that had woken them and knew immediately what had happened when Tonraq had knocked on her door

"I'm afraid so" Tonraq replied as he shut the door


	2. The Truth Comes Out

Lin looked visibly disturbed, all the colour drained from her face and her stern abrasive outer shell collapsed. "poor girl" Lin whispered before she sat down on the bed heavily, the unwanted memories returning. Lin had been near the South Pole when, eight years ago, Korra had vanished from her home. Senna and Tonraq had contacted the police and requested her only to find she was nearby. They had called Lin on her airship's radio and she had immediately redirected her airship to the Southern Water Tribe. "what does she remember?" Lin asked timidly

"not much, she told Asami she saw red snow in her nightmare but she still can't remember anything else" Senna stated quietly

"Knowing her she's gonna be angry about not being able to remember" Lin pondered, "maybe it's time to..."

"no way!" Senna gasped, "we can't tell Korra!"

"Let me finish!" Lin hissed, "maybe it's time to tell Asami" she finished while Senna looked abashed

"maybe..." Tonraq muttered. He hated keeping things from his daughters, even if it was for their own good

"and you could probably tell Asami the rest too" Lin stated

"what do you mean, Lin?" Tonraq asked innocently

"That thing you've been keeping hidden from Korra all her life" Lin stated simply and she looked around at the stunned faces, "come on, I am a detective and a Chief of Police yanno, I see how you look at Korra and Asami, Asami especially. You look at her sadly like You've lost something or someone and you wish that Asami had been born yours" Lin smiled gently, "the way you acted, Tonraq is another clue, I heard you storm in there ready to protect your girls"

"she's right" Senna admitted

Tonraq sighed, "Lin, Korra was born a twin"

Lin gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "oh... Oh shit" Lin stuttered. On the one hand she was eternally grateful to the married couple for trusting her enough to help find their daughter. They had come to her first after all instead of going to the local emergency services, and on the other she was again devastated, in the same way she was when they found Korra eight years ago.

"We were going to tell her when she got to eighteen and became a legal adult worldwide, but after everything she's gone through, we simply couldn't add to that"

Lin nodded slowly, "i understand that" she knew how much Korra's parents loved her and rather than make her jealous it helped her to understand just how much her mother, Toph, loved her. Lin knew that her mother wasn't any good with emotions but now understood how much she loved her. Lin wiped a tear away, she had been shaken to the core when Korra screamed. She had vowed to help protect Korra from those who wanted to hurt her while she sat silently at the girl's bedside in the local Southern Water Tribe hospital, unfortunately there wasn't much she could do to protect Korra from her night terrors. She had effectively moved in with them shortly after the battle with Kuvira but she still couldn't help Korra with her terrors. Lin had been honoured when she had been made the childrens' Spiritmother a number of years later and relieved when Asami had come around to her lonely flat, had pretty much dragged the older woman to her Satomobile and driven her to the mansion. Senna and Tonraq were also in a spare bedroom for several weeks after Mako had found the kids to help the girls to get used to their new role as parents, before they left to return to the South Pole they asked Lin to watch over the girls. It had also been on Lin's advice that Senna and Tonraq advised their daughters not to adopt until the nightmares had lessened. It wouldn't have been fair on the girls or on their adopted children Lin had explained to Tonraq, Senna on the other hand had immediately nodded, seeing the wisdom in the Chief's words.

*

Korra was holding on to her children as they led in their beds. On the rare occasion Korra had one of her nightmares she would come in and check on the children, kneeling silently between them with her hands on theirs until she felt ready to return to bed. This time it was different, both of the children had been woken up by Korra's scream, as had Asami, her parents and probably Lin and all the staff, the children looked up at their mother with adoration and she gently stroked their cheeks until they drifted off to sleep. She groaned and put her hand to her head, letting a tear escape her eye before she braced herself ready to stand when she felt a soft hand on her shoulder. "Come back to bed Korra, we can talk in the morning"

"thank you, 'Sami" Korra whispered before she let her girlfriend guide her back to their room.

Once their door has closed, Lin nodded at Tonraq and Senna, "they've gone to bed" she whispered

"You want a tea before we go to sleep, Lin? Senna?" both women shook their heads so Tonraq nodded, picked his wife up and carried her back to bed

Lin, on the other hand, did not go back to sleep. The memories of that night remained fresh in her mind, how she had found Korra. Lin sat down on her bed and quietly let the tears come. She was the tough unbreakable Chief of Republic City Police Department, yes, but these people, her family, saw this other side of her, the more gentle side.


	3. Korra's Parents' Deepest Secret

"I'm sorry, Asami! I don't remember anything more!" Korra exclaimed before turning away in utter frustration

"hey, hey, it's alright Korra" Asami soothed

Korra had noticed both her parents and Lin looking at her in concern, _wonder what they know?_ She thought to herself. "I'm fine!" she snapped before she disappeared off into the bathroom

"Asami, we would like to talk to you" Lin asked kindly

"what's up?" Asami whispered quietly

"Well... We don't really want to be overheard, shall we go downstairs?" Senna replied

"Where I can keep an eye out for Korra and the kids" Tonraq explained, "and you girls can talk"

"Otay" Asami shrugged. They headed downstairs and into one of the many large and comfortable rooms, "what's this about?" Asami asked

"Asami..." Senna muttered and moved to sit next to her adoptive daughter. "Lin persuaded us to tell you a few things about Korra's past, which even she doesn't know"

Asami froze up, "wait what?"

"Asami" Senna choked back tears, "there's things about Korra you need to know, but you must swear never to reveal them to her. She's been through enough"

"Uh... What can I say?" Asami breathed coolly, irritated that Korra's own parents would keep secrets from her, and Lin... How long had she known what Asami did not?!

"Asami" Tonraq called, "you have every right to be annoyed, but when you hear what we have to say and our reasoning behind it, I hope you'll understand, and forgive us"

"I'll try" Asami sighed. She knew Senna and Tonraq loved their daughter, "but how come Lin knows when I don't?"

"don't sweat it, kid" Lin replied, it was amazing how warm and caring the older woman could be if she wanted to, "i put the dots together last night and told them they should tell you even if they don't tell Korra"

"Asami" Senna was on the verge of tears, Asami moved closer and wrapped her arms around Senna and Lin stood next to Senna with her hand on her shoulder, "k..." she stuttered, "k..."

"Korra..." Asami helped

"Korra was... Was... Wasn't an only child" Senna whispered cautiously between gasps of anguish

Asami reeled back at that revelation, the whole room spun and she thanked Raava she was sitting down, otherwise she would probably be on the floor by now

"what?!" Asami gasped but both Tonraq and Senna were too overcome with emotion to reply

"Asami," Lin stepped in to continue on their behalf, "Korra had a twin"

Asami covered her mouth with her hand and tears sparkled at the corners of her eyes, "had?" she asked cautiously, not sure she'd like the answer.

"Asami, she died" Tonraq explained, suddenly, everything made sense. Why Tonraq was overprotective of Korra for her entire life, why Senna and Tonraq had begun treating her like their own daughter much faster than she would've expected, why there had been no animosity at all, why they had accepted who they both were even though not the whole Water Tribe would approve, why Tonraq had become extremely overprotective of her.

"W... What happened?" Asami stuttered

"We don't know..." Senna sobbed, that rubbed Asami up the wrong way. _Why didn't they know? Didn't they search for her? Didn't they give up every day and every night until their daughter was safe again?!_ Asami realised that she was hardly being fair on her adoptive parents, _of course they'd love this mystery girl as much as they loved Korra. Of course they would've searched tirelessly for her_

"what was her name?" Asami asked

"Kylia" Tonraq smiled faintly, "her hair was as black as night so we used to call her Kylia Star, because the stars are the only things that always brighten the sky"

"what a perfect name" Asami whispered, she couldn't help but wonder if there was another Korra lookalike running around somewhere

Tonraq seemed to grasp her trail of thought quickly, too quickly, "i highly doubt if she's still alive, Asami, she was only one when she disappeared"

Asami felt the tears coming thick and fast as she thought of Korra, growing up alone when she should've had a sister. "I'm so sorry" she stuttered.

"Not your fault" Senna smiled before Asami went outside to the pool to think about all this new information

*

"Waterbending bomb!!" she heard a shriek and looked up, Korra was flying through the air and splashed down in the pool with a giant splash. Asami turned when she heard giggling coming from an upstairs window

"Again! Again!" Hiroshi called, jumping up and down, "this time take me down with you!!" the little boy called excitedly

"looks fun!" Asami exclaimed, and, for a while at least, she was able to forget about everything she has learned and just have some fun with her kids

Korra had picked Hiroshi up on her back and done the same running leap out of the upstairs window, they soared through the air, over Lin's head and into the pool, Hiroshi squealing in exhilaration the whole time. They were promptly followed by Yue and Tonraq who flew out seconds later and landed with an even bigger splash


	4. Death in the Southern Water Tribe

There was an angry yell from the woman with black hair. She had been brought up secretly by Ghazan and Ming-Hua without the knowledge of their comrades or even their leader. She was a powerful bender who benefited from teachings from all four of the master benders before she had joined the Red Lotus at the age of ten. Her parents had promised her she could join when she was ten and although her parents were locked away at the time, she honoured their agreement as did the sole Red Lotus guard who knew the truth. She had joined the Red Lotus and when she was in her late teens her parents and the other two escaped. She had run into her parents arms when she saw them for the first time in years, overjoyed by everything including Zaheer's new airbending skills, only to have them torn out of her life again when three of the four had been killed by the avatar, Korra. She yelled angrily again at the sea, she was alone on a boat floating randomly and hadn't really seen land since her parents had been murdered years ago. "fuck you!" she screamed at a picture of Korra before launching a ball of fire at it, incinerating it. She pulled another picture out of the box she kept handy and tore it to shreds with a blast of air, "i will kill you, bitch!" she roared, rage overtaking her and a wave of water rose underneath the boat and carried the boat a short distance before she realised what was happening and let the water go. On the rare occasion that she returned to the land, more often than not to just pick up supplies, there was always a trail of destruction that followed her. She felt no remorse when she had squeezed the air from a passerby's lungs for wolf whistling at her. She didn't regret slicing a woman's throat because she wouldn't give her what she needed without the correct payment. She had laughed when an elderly woman that had stumbled into her was knocked flying by a large lump of earth she had launched into her back. This woman was unsure of her exact age and had no clue what her birthday was, but she knew she must be in her early thirties, she only knew she must look a lot older than that after she had torn her own eyes out after something had upset her. she was a proficient airbender and earthbender though so she could still see even without her eyes, she normally covered the empty sockets with a strip of cloth. She took care of the rest of her tanned body, with the exception of her hair, her blindness made it near impossible for her to care for it properly so she had given up. "i will fucking kill you all!!" she spat before she shot an ice spear through the faces of everyone she loathed. She loathed all those that were involved in the downfall of the Red Lotus and she had vowed to murder them all, with Korra suffering the worst death. Lin, Suyin, Tonraq, Senna, Mako, Bolin, Kai, Opal, Jinora, Ikki, Meelo, Eska, Desna, Tenzin and all the airbenders who had helped on that fateful day. She had already made a certain amount of progress, having quietly killed a few airbenders that had been involved on her various visits to different ports and returned to the ocean before anyone could catch her.

That though, the days of hiding, were over. She had landed in the Southern Water Tribe with one goal in mind, to murder everyone in the White Lotus compound. Sure, she'd got a few whispers and even one catcall while she walked through the water tribe, but unlike normal, she didn't kill them, instead she let it pass, using her waterbending to sense where the snow was and therefore avoid the buildings that she would've preferred to still be ice like they were in the olden days, that way she could've seen everything. She spent the morning browsing the town's shops, she got some noodles and a couple of new clothes to replace the old ones she was wearing but as night approached she left the town and marched to the compound, shattering the ice wall with a single finger. "White Lotus... Prepare to meet your destiny!" she spat and impaled every single one of the guards running at her without a second thought.

"what in the name of...?!" an elderly woman exclaimed

 _Shit_ the woman thought, _I've somehow been recognised!_

"K..." the elderly woman began before she found herself in the ice. She got a better look at the woman from that position though, and she knew immediately that she had made a mistake, this was not the woman she mistook her for, even though they looked remarkably similar. Her eyes didn't have the same glisten to them and her hair was way too black

"don't talk to me, White Lotus scum!" the woman screamed before she felt the ice melt around her soon to be victim

"I too draw power from the moon and I too am at home surrounded by the ice" she exclaimed before she launched ice spikes at the strange girl

"Fuck!" she had forgotten the first rule of fighting her mother and father had taught her... No playing with your enemy. She launched an unstoppable barrage of ice and water attacks but every single one was blocked by the elderly woman. "just fucking die!" she yelled in frustration after the elderly woman had cut her side, before she reached deep within herself and found the power to do she one thing she knew would surprise the woman. Stream erupted from below her as the ice melted and the woman fell through into the frigid water below, she waved her hand and resolidified the ice, trapping the woman in the water. She then watched her float down into the depths and out of sight before she breathed calmly and blasted another hole in the compound wall in order to leave and return to the Water Tribe city.

*

She reached the city slower than she had traversed the opposite journey, her side and leg hindering her. "this hurts!" she exclaimed before sitting down on a block of ice where she proceeded to heal her injury from the fight with the waterbender. "best waterbender in the world?" she scoffed, "my ass"

"Are you alright?" a friendly voice asked

"I'm fine" she replied

"you're injured, let me take you back to my ship" the male questioned

"no" she replied

"Fine. But my name's Iroh if you do change your mind"

"Thank you Iroh" she replied curtly, but not unkindly

"You're welcome" the man walked off with a little swagger

If the woman had eyes, she would've rolled them, _didn't he realise I'm blind?!_

Her mission in the south was nearly completed, she had one job left to do so she stood up carefully and when she was sure her leg could withstand her weight she surged forward, heading first to a little home on the edge of the city, which she crushed with less than a twitch of her fingers, and upon not hearing satisfying screams and crunches, she turned away angrily and headed instead to the big building set against the mountain, this must be their new home. She broke in with a quick blast of fire before she explored every hallway, hiding from everyone until she had explored the last room. "damn" she exclaimed realising that her next victims, Senna and Tonraq, weren't home. She instead sat in the council chamber for a couple of hours and got some sleep before panicked voices woke her.

"the entire compound is filled with corpses!" a voice exclaimed before he burst into the room let out a surprised squeak and fell under the woman's merciless use of an ice blade. The snow began to turn red and she watched him in his death throes, trying desperately to stop the blood pouring out of his neck

"time to scarper" she grinned before she made a hole in the ice and dropped through it.


	5. Consequences

Tenzin and his siblings had been shaken to the core when they had received the phone call. "White Lotus compound has been attacked" Bumi whispered disbelievingly, "all found dead, except mom, she wasn't found among the dead"

Tenzin and Kya were reeling from the news. "someone's gotta tell Korra" was all Tenzin could manage

"Not sure that's a good idea" Kya muttered

"what?"

"Trust me on this one air head, at least until we know what had happened"

"Someone also crushed Senna and Tonraq's old home as well as killing one of the people at the palace"

"Thankfully Korra's parents are here. Whoever it is is on a bit of a vendetta" Mako spoke for the first time and all three had forgotten that he was there

"you're right, Mako"

"I'll go tell Beifong" he said seriously

"I'll come too" Kya called quickly, too quickly. Tenzin looked blankly between her and Bumi who had snickered with amusement at his brother's innocence

"you airbenders..." Bumi commented, his booming laugh echoing around the room

*

"are you sure?" they hadn't found Lin at the station, she was at her new home, Sato mansion. All it had taken was Kya to mutter something about needing to see Lin alone after Mako had spoken with her and Korra moved aside, grinning and blushing

"Yes" Mako growled angrily. Korra was going to be badly affected by this news, and if Korra was upset, Asami would be too

"You still love them, don't you?" Kya inquired

"yes, of course I do!" Mako exclaimed, "but not like that anymore. I'd die if it would ensure their safety and happiness" he added seriously

"I know, kid, but we don't have time for all that what with this news from the water tribe. I'll do some research"

"Thank you Mako" Kya said pointedly. Mako blushed and nearly ran out of the room much to the older ladies' amusement

"now we have some time alone" Kya purred, Lin could tell that Kya needed this

*

Korra had smiled at Mako as he ran past, "the scary old ladies frighten you with their old lady ways?" she called

Mako smiled more naturally than he was expecting, "you have no idea... Kya can be scary"

Korra laughed and mock saluted as he did all those years ago, "yes, sir! Detective Mako sir!". Mako went red and groaned

"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?"

"Nope"

Asami walked in carrying her adopted sister, Mikiso, in her arms, smiling cutely before making an ugly face at the baby who laughed loudly. "afternoon, Korra"

"Hey there my beautiful girl!" Korra called back and ran over. "you too, cutie" she grinned before poking her sister's nose after kissing Asami's cheek

"I've got some important police work to finish"

Asami rolled her eyes. "begone" she saluted like Korra had before both girls broke down in fits of giggles. Mako shook his head and left quickly

*

Korra seemed to stop for a moment before she dropped to her knees and screamed. She felt a tightness around her neck and a weird sensation of liquid running down her legs and arms. Thankfully Asami was still holding Mikiso otherwise Korra would've dropped and possibly hurt the baby.

"What the?!" a yell echoed out from a few rooms away and there was running heavy footsteps and Tonraq leapt through the door again and looked at his daughter lying on the floor unconscious and then at Asami who stood there helplessly holding his baby. "what happened?!"

"I don't know!!" Asami yelled "Korra screamed, fell to her knees then just keeled over"

"Shit" Tonraq growled

"Sir?" Asami whispered unsurely

"I've told you before, Asami, call me Tonraq, or better yet, dad" his eyes were still kind even though he fretted about his daughter.

"I heard another scream...?" Senna rushed in with Asami's chef, Ichi

"miss Sato! Is miss Sato alright?" Ichi interrupted, "can I do anything?"

"yes, get Lin and Kya" Senna instructed, "tell them it's happened again"

"no need, you could hear that shriek in the mountains" Kya called as she walked in

"she's never fallen unconscious before" Tonraq sighed

"No, she hasn't, I'll take her to a healing bath" she went on, more to herself, "only wish mom was still around, she'd have worked this out in a few minutes"

"Pardon, Kya?" Senna whispered

"my mom's missing" Kya explained while checking Korra was still out cold. She was, so she continued, "the compound was attacked yesterday night and everyone there was murdered. Senna gasped before she moved to comfort the older woman. "everyone thinks she's dead, even Tenzin and Bumi"

"oh Kya, I'm so sorry for your loss!" Senna looked close to tears

"Now's not the time" Kya shook her head, Tonraq picked Korra up and carried her into the bathroom that had been converted to a healing room

"Good thing I had this room set up" Asami breathed regretfully

"hey, your girl is the avatar" Kya reassured her, "it doesn't hurt to be prepared" she looked meaningfully at Lin, "of course to be fully prepared I ought to move in too"

Asami grinned slyly at Kya, then Lin, "let's do it!" she exclaimed then sat back and watched the two stutter and act awkward. "this is great..." Asami grinned "sooo... Your new accommodations, Kya... I expect you'll want a room close to this room?" she smirked at Kya who blushed furiously, "oh don't worry I'm well aware of what you'd want even if a catgator got your tounge right now"

Lin blushed before she pulled Kya into a big hug, "we're gonna live together!!" she exclaimed, more like the excitable little girl Kya knew growing up than the serious Chief of Police she'd grown into.

"Yes, Lin, we are going to live together!" She pulled Lin into a kiss and everyone exclaimed happily

 _Operation: Kyalin is underway!_ Asami thought, _gotta tell Opal and Jinora!! Boy, it has been fun for me and the two girls to think about how to play Cupid and get those two together at last_

"well first things first" Lin tried to act serious but was unable to because a grin had firmly planted itself on her lips

"careful, Lin" Bumi grinned from the window, "that grin looks as stubborn as you!" his booming laughter echoed out once again, although he was prepared to avoid a chunk of rock or a cable. _Great work, Asami!!!_

Lin, to his surprise blushed but didn't try to hurt him, instead she turned back to Kya and pecked her cheek, "i love you"

"Oho!" Bumi exclaimed and slipped through the window, "haha, it's about damned time you two! I'm happy for you, Lin, I'm happy for you, sis"

*

Kya reluctantly turned away and turned her attention to healing Korra. "she's gonna be fine" she whispered after ten minutes or so, "but you might want to reapply the fake skin stuff, I'm amazed it's lasted this long, eight years is an incredibly long time"

Senna, Tonraq and Asami breathed the largest sighs of relief, not that the others didn't sigh in relief. "right, better do that now" Senna instructed. It was her idea that allowed the avatar to remain unaware of exactly what had transpired while she was in the south pole

Tonraq turned to Asami, "would you come and help me with little one?" he tickled the feet of the baby Asami was still holding

He was immensely relieved when he heard Asami's answer, "yeah, sure" she muttered, not really thinking it through that much, not really believing that the couple were still keeping things from her

"Thanks, Asami" they left and went to prepare some food for Mikiso, Ichi tagging along because he realised how unwelcome he would become in a few minutes

"You do know that one day this stuff will wear off and it won't be so easy to reapply" Kya commented

"yes" Senna nodded sincerely while Lin and Tonraq, the latter of whom had snuck back in as quickly as he could, leaving Asami with Mikiso, looked on, their faces incredibly worried.

Bumi looked around in confusion before he noticed what they were all looking at, Lin saw comprehension dawn in his eyes so she reached up and put a hand close to his throat, "if you ever go to mention this to anyone, I'll break your neck!" she growled

"Don't worry about me" he said more seriously than any one of them had ever seen him, "i know when silence is a virtue" the former soldier nodded calmly as if this was to be expected from the Chief of Police

Lin nodded but kept an intense glare on him while Senna and Kya carefully washed and dried Korra's arms, legs, stomach and neck

"I know this is necessary but I hate doing it all the same" Senna nodded towards the little bottle she kept hidden in a secret pouch in her belt of healing things

"I know" Tonraq sighed, incredibly thankful of the knowledge they'd found hidden deep in the Water Tribe's healing library


	6. Escape

The Black Haired Woman resurfaced near her boat, and hearing panicked yells from various authority figures, she clambered out of the water, waterbent herself dry, rose the sails with a twitch of one hand and sent a gust of air into them, propelling the boat towards the open water. She thought she had got away but she held her hand out behind her and felt two more boats catching up with her. "shit" she muttered but didn't bother slowing down since she was blind after all.

"Throttle back and prepare to be boarded!!" a man's voice yelled

"fuck!" she did as she was told but prepared herself to deal with any resistance

The boat came up alongside hers and a gangplank was thrown down. "what is your business in the Southern Water Tribe?" A man's voice echoed

"shopping?" she replied cooly before gesturing at the clothes she had acquired. "What's the problem? I've come here before and never had an issue with coming or going"

"the Chief has ordered all boats to be impounded following an incident late last night"

 _Shit_ ,the woman thought. _Time to ditch all my gear, I can come back for it later or make more_. She made a subtle hand movement and a small hatch on the bottom of her boat opened, dumping the contents into the icy depths. "why what happened?" she was careful to sound intrigued but not too interested

"there was an incident" the man replied shortly, "the Chief ordered impounding so that's what we do" he looked around, "strange boat you've got here, miss"

"why thank you, it's one of a kind far as I'm aware, where is the Chief?" she asked innocently

"I'm sure it is" the man nodded, "excuse me but if you're blind..."

"How do I negotiate the sea? Guide the boat?"

"Well... Yes"

"I'm a bender"

"water?"

"Yea"

"Where are you from originally and how did you lose your eyes?"

"My, how many questions you're asking, how are any of these relevant?"

"They just are"

"I'm from the foggy swamp originally and I was involved in an accident" the woman didn't think it was wise to tell the truth, she had been born somewhere else but her parents never told her where and of course she'd torn her own eyes out, she couldn't remember why though.

"Hmmm..." the man pondered, "you've answered all my questions but I'm not sure you're telling the truth..."

"what?!"

"Your earth floor, I can sense when someone... Urk!" he stopped speaking when a section of the earth floor lifted itself up and smacked into him

"I would love to stop and chat but I have an appointment at Zaofu" the woman grinned before she snapped the man's leg bones with a twitch of her finger, she also removed the air from his lungs long enough to prevent him screaming. "now, release my boat" she ordered. She knew that they weren't going to do so so she formed ice on the bottoms of the boats, used it to crush the hulls of the boats and zoomed off as fast as she could while leaving the boats to sink. She had retrieved her stuff she had dumped before fleeing, having used waterbending to retrieve it and now that she was shooting across the ocean as fast as she could she checked upon her belongings she had dumped. "shit" she muttered when she pulled the now ruined Equalist glove out from the assortment of items, it was one of her favourite non-lethal weapons to use and she felt sorrow at the loss of it. She also retrieved her hit list, which she always kept in a waterproof box. She looked at it and crossed out the first names on the list, 'South Pole White Lotus base' and 'Katara'. She then smiled to herself and led back believing she had earned a break.


	7. The Depths of Korra's Despair

Asami finished feeding Mikiso quickly and put the baby in her cot in her parents' room before she returned to the healing room. It wasn't locked so she opened the door and slipped inside behind Lin, Tonraq and Bumi who were watching Kya and Senna work on Korra. _Why aren't they finished yet?_ She thought and stood next to Tonraq

"Asami!" Tonraq exclaimed, a note of panic in his voice

"Yes?" she replied quietly, noticing that Korra was still unconscious in the healing bath and that Senna and Kya were working on Korra's arms. That seemed a bit odd to Asami. "what are you doing?"

Lin walked over to a chair and dragged it back, "sit" she commanded, although it wasn't unkind

"Why?"

"trust me Asami, when we tell you, you're going to need to sit down"

"Uh... Otay...?" Asami muttered and sat

"Tonraq, Senna, we're going to have to tell her eventually" Kya agreed with Lin's unspoken words

"uh... Sure, I guess" Tonraq nodded and looked at his wife

"Fine! But Asami must swear not to tell Korra any of this, she doesn't remember and it's probably a good thing"

"She doesn't remember what?" Asami blurted out

"swear you won't say anything?"

"why?"

"Just swear on it"

"fine! I swear!"

"Good. Asami come over here" Senna called after she had put down a syringe with a massive needle on it. Asami walked over, with Lin shadowing her with the chair, and she caught sight of some raised red lines on Korra's arm, the one they were working on

"w... What's that?" Asami's voice broke

"scars, Asami" Senna whispered

"What from? I don't remember her having scars like THAT" Asami whispered

"from the South Pole" to Asami's surprise it was Lin that spoke, "Asami, Korra tried to kill herself"

Asami's entire world faded, she collapsed into the chair and just sat there, slumped, for a long while.

She felt her heart shatter, in a way it was worse than the pain she felt when she lost her father six years ago. _Lin was right_ , her otherwise blank mind whispered to her, _you did need the chair_. Asami could sort of hear Tonraq and Lin calling her name, she could sort of see Bumi waving his hand in front of her face and sort of feel his grip on her wrist but she couldn't work out why even if her life had depended upon it.

*

"Asami!" slowly, after several hours, Asami's senses began to normalise a little and she noticed a voice calling to her, _Bumi_ she thought

"Bumi?" she croaked as soon as she had found the ability to speak without feeling like she was going to projectile vomit all over the man in front of her

"welcome back" Bumi whispered, well, if you could call Bumi's whisper a whisper.

"h... How long?"

"How long were you out?" Bumi stood and poured her a glass of water, "several hours"

"hours?!" Asami croaked before she grabbed the water and drunk it like she was in the desert, _shit!_

"Calm down, Asami" Bumi tried to soothe but his voice just wasn't the same as Senna's or Kya's, and Tenzin's just made her feel sleepy. "Korra's fine, don't worry about her"

 _KORRA!!_ Asami's mind went into overdrive and it nearly put her back into a stupor similar to the one she'd been in for the past few hours, "really, Bumi?!" she yelled

"Korra is resting after her healing session" Bumi explained

"what the fuck was that exactly?!" Asami's raised voice had gathered some attention, she could hear thundering footsteps coming up the stairs

"I'm not sure exactly, you'll have to talk to Senna or Kya" he shrugged, "they weren't finished with Korra when you went into that... Whatever it was, stupor, I guess" he explained, withering slightly under Asami's glare, "so Tonraq and I carried a bed into this room and put you in it, Korra is still in the healing bath, next door, so it'd be best if you stopped yelling. I think Lin had to take a report at the station and I believe Tonraq is cooking something for you both. Senna and Kya are still with Korra"

"Alright, Bumi" Asami's expression softened, "I'm sorry I yelled at you" Lin and Tonraq burst through the door

"Asami!" Tonraq sighed in relief. "i brought up some food if you want it"

"Asami" Lin smiled warmly down at her while Asami grabbed some toast

"didn't you have to go to the station?" Bumi asked

"yea, it was just the official report about the South Pole though" she explained, "i gave it to Mako to read through, he'll pop by if there's anything that needs my attention" Lin explained. "i couldn't be away from these two at a time like this"

"I understand" Bumi nodded, "you found her, didn't you?"

Asami was fed up of being ignored, "when exactly did you find out about this, Lin? And when did YOU know, Bumi? It seems everyone else knew, except me!!!" she hissed angrily

"hey, I just found out today" Bumi said innocently

"I'm afraid I've known since it... Since it happened" Lin slumped into a chair and held her head in her hands

"What do you mean, Lin?"

"i mean, Asami, that I was there when it happened, and worse still, I was the one who found her" Lin looked up and Asami was shocked when she saw tears running down Lin's face

"Lin..." Asami whispered, "I'm sorry"

"it wasn't you" Lin reassured her, "it's hard to think about that, how she was, now she's so full of vitality, life and happiness again" Lin paused and wiped her eyes, "I'll tell you from the beginning" Lin whispered

"otay" Asami nodded

"it was eight years ago, eight years ago today in fact, while Korra was in the south trying to recover from Zaheer's brutal attack. Senna and Tonraq woke early that morning and discovered Korra... Wasn't there. She wasn't in the palace or the training areas and none of the guards nor workers had seen her" Senna and Tonraq sent out search parties but an hour later they called Republic City Police and asked to speak to me, they were scared out of their minds and they chose me of all people to help them. I wasn't there so the officer on the front desk contacted my airship and told me, turns out I was a stone's throw away from the South Pole so I headed there immediately. I had been tracking a particularly nasty Red Lotus member, a girl, for about a year. I hadn't seen her myself but several people reported this black haired girl to be a formidable earthbender and a pretty sick person. I got reports saying that several people had had their bones broken by her without her touching them, and those were the lucky ones. Anyway I've digressed too far, I rushed to the South Pole, and from my vantage point I was able to see a set of footprints that otherwise would've been missed. I followed them in the air as fast as I could and came across this cave... She was in there" Lin then stopped

"what happened?!"

"Asami, are you sure you want to hear this?"

"YES, TELL ME NOW DON'T MAKE ME ZAP YOU!" she pulled out her Equalist glove and brandished it threateningly

"Alright, alright" Lin sighed, "i found Korra in quite a bad way. I sincerely think if the temperature was even slightly higher in that cave she would've bled out by the time I had got to her. Asami, she had hacked both her arms and legs up and set herself up so that when she got weak she would hang herself, it was very obviously a suicide attempt." Asami was crying silently and Tonraq had her curled up in his arms. "it was touch and go, she had only just fallen unconscious I think as she was swinging slightly, but she had still lost a lot of blood and there were the deep wounds on her legs and arms as well as some deep wounds on her neck" Lin wiped her eyes before continuing, "i hurried back to the airship and surrounded Korra with as much ice as I could, but it was nearly too late. I was losing her and already tearing the airship's engines apart. I had wished I was a healer or bloodbender more times than I could count on that airship. I was so desperate and my senses were so heightened that I began to notice something I hadn't before. Metal, in Korra's blood. At first I thought it was the poison but after I checked my own blood, I realised it wasn't and I had found a way to keep her alive. I kept the blood she had left away from her arms and legs and patched her neck up, as well as using this newfound ability to keep the blood in her neck when it would've seeped out otherwise for long enough to keep her alive and until we reached a hospital. Korra was safe and I stayed with her until her parents got there." Lin finished her story and wiped her eyes again. "to think I didn't think much of your girlfriend to begin with, she really grew on me and Tonraq even insisted on making me an honorary member of the Water Tribe"

"It was the least I could do, you saved my daughter"

"you didn't have to make me a part of the Tribe and part of your family though, Tonraq"

"yes, I really did"

Lin blushed but smiled. "so, Korra was safe, minus a few toes and half a finger or two because of the cold and them being deprived of blood. She spent weeks unconscious in hospital but unfortunately I had to leave and return to the city and the trail of the black haired woman who had completely vanished. As for what Kya and Senna were doing though, they'd be better equipped to tell you, all I know is it's a way to hide her scars"

Asami suddenly understood something she hadn't in all the time she had known Korra since her return. "that's why she's missing a few toes and a bit off two of her fingers, two thirds off her ring finger on her right hand and a third off her pinky on her right hand, as well as several toes!" Asami exclaimed. "i never knew why, Korra wasn't exactly helpful with that so I was always wondering, wondering if something had happened or if I just hadn't noticed beforehand"

"Sorry Asami" Lin muttered sincerely

"Small price to pay" Asami smiled her thanks at the older woman

*

Kya poked her head around the door a few minutes later, "i heard voices, is Asami alright now, sweetie?" Kya called to Lin

"ask her y..."

"I'm fine, Kya"

"Really?"

"No" Asami glared at Kya, "i just found out my girlfriend tried to kill herself! Of course I'm not o-fucking-tay!"

"I'm sorry, Asami, we did what we thought best for Korra"

Asami stopped glaring at Kya and lowered her gaze, "how many people know?"

"Senna, Tonraq, me, Lin and mom" Kya whispered, "and now you and Bumi know too"

"Tenzin doesn't know?"

"No"

"Pema?"

"no"

"Mako?"

"No"

"Bolin?"

"Nope. You can continue listing as many names as you want, the answer will be the same for each and every single one" Kya smiled slightly. "best way to keep a secret is to keep a secret"

Asami smiled. "sooo..."

"you want to know what we were doing?" Asami nodded, "we were treating Korra's injuries to keep them hidden"

"Why?"

"we decided after all the traumas that poor girl has gone through, the fact that she was unable to remember an additional one was a gift from the spirits"

"We decided?"

"Senna, Tonraq, mom, Lin and I"

"And what exactly were you doing?"

"We used a combination of healing, and injections to reduce the size of the scars as well as reduce their visibility"

"injections?"

"yes, we mix a tiny amount of a substance we get from boiling the leaves of the White Jade bush in alcohol in with some spirit water and inject it under the scars. When combined with healing this reduces the size of the scar to nearly nothing for a period of time. The last time we did it was seven years and ten months ago and we didn't know if it'd hold for that long, or at all"

"Korra was unconscious for two months?"

"longer, she was unconscious for at least three, the blood loss, injuries and the cold really knocked her for six, poor girl"

Senna knocked on the door and poked her head around the door, "Asami, she's waking up"

"Otay, I'm coming" Asami stood and nearly ran out of the room, down the short length of corridor and into the room where Korra was lying

"Korra" she breathed, feeling her eyes fill up with tears. The avatar was still in one of the healing baths and her eyes closed

"they told you the truth?" Senna inquired gently

"yes" was all Asami could manage

"Good" Senna smiled brilliantly, "now you know everything there is to know about my daughter, and I'm glad it's you, not anyone else"

"Thank you, Senna"

"mom" the older woman corrected her

"mom" Asami smiled wider before she turned back to Korra. "hey sweetie, time to wake up" she breathed gently to the younger woman who's eyes had just began to flutter, "Korra, baby, time to wake up"

"'Sami" Korra groaned and raised her hand weakly

"I'm here, sweetie, I'm here" Asami smiled and helped Korra put her hand on her cheek. "oh sweetie I was so worried"

"W... What happened?"

"You collapsed, Korra"

"I... Had another nightmare, 'Sami"

"about what, baby?" Asami and Senna waited with bated breath

"i was in a cave and it was all dark, I was in a lot of pain and there was a lot of r... R... Red snow"

"it's just a nightmare sweetie, nothing to worry about" Asami smiled reassuringly, but at the same time she hated the fact that she was lying

"if you say so, 'Sami" Korra groaned and reached up weakly, Asami took her in her arms, lifted her up out of the healing bath and caught the towel Senna threw to her

"I'll leave you two alone" Senna whispered and retreated

"I do say so, sweetie" she couldn't help but notice that Korra's scars had completely vanished, _spirits, that treatment really does work!_ She finished drying her girlfriend and helped her into her clothes before she carried her out of the healing room and into their temporary bedroom next door. She led her girlfriend down in the bed, slipped out of her clothes and clambered in next to Korra. "goodnight, sweetie"

"But it's the middle of the day, 'Sami"

"Just go to sleep Korra"

"mmmmhhhmmmm" Korra sighed contentedly and soon they were both fast asleep


	8. The Massacre in Zaofu

The Black Haired Woman smashed her way through the wall of Zaofu, even the platinum dome didn't withstand much of her relentless assault. "aargh" a guard yelped when he was thrown backward, his back smashed into an outcropping of rock and broke. The Black Haired Woman snuck through the shadows until an alarm sounded in the distance. "time to make my presence known!" she growled before standing up fully and quickly dispatched three guards with a blast of lightning and knocked another three back with a blast of water.

"shit" the last guard whispered before he held his arms up in the air, "the a..."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!" she shrieked over him while twisting her hand in a jerking movement. the man yelled, his arms fell to his sides and he yelped in pain

"that bitch, that bitch killed everyone I held dear!" she growled angrily before shoving a spike of ice through his chest. "and I am here to claim the right of vengeance" she growled before smashing her way through another wall and into a richly upholstered house. She had disposed of every guard that had been stationed around the grounds, eliminating them one at a time and leaving their mutilated bodies where they fell.

"What the?!" a young man squeaked before a flash of recognition shot through his eyes, then uncertainty. "w... Why are you wearing that over your eyes?" he asked

"This is why" the woman growled and lifted it, revealing the scars where her eyes should've been

"eeek!" he jumped back in horror and surprise, "you're not who I thought you were, I thought you were someone I know"

"no such luck, Wing" the Black Haired Woman growled before she bent a blade of water at his throat

"I need help here!!" Wing yelled while holding his hand up to his throat to cover the wound. Suyin, Wei and two guards barged in

"perfect. The whole family and the bitch who killed my aunt as well, all in one room!"

"Your aunt?" Suyin inquired

"P'li" she replied, "the woman you murdered!!"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ghazan and Ming-Hua's daughter, you bitch!" the woman screamed and sliced up Suyin's face with a jet of water

"Y... You can't be!" Suyin whispered disbelievingly before she got a face full of water and ice

"Shut it" the woman growled

Wing and Wei stepped forward with their arms raised in a bending stance, the woman raised her eyebrow and flexed her fingers. "Stand down!" Wei yelled

"you're outnumbered" Wing growled

"Don't challenge me, you two had no part in murdering my family, therefore if you keep out of it, I may not harm you"

"And mom?" Wei inquired

"I will kill her" the woman stated coldly with venom coursing through her tone

"then you'll have to go through us!"

"So be it" the woman growled before she clenched both her fists. Both Wing and Wei yelled and fell to their knees

"What did you do to them, you bitch?!" Suyin screamed before she threw a metal blade at the woman with her metalbending

"Relax" the Black Haired Woman whispered before she flipped the metal blade around in midair, grabbed it and shoved it deep into Suyin's chest, "i only broke their arms" she breathed in deeply once she removed the blade, enjoying the sweet scent of the woman's blood and desperation. "now, rest, go to sleep like Katara and your guards" the woman breathed without venom before she turned and ran


	9. Zaofu

"Lin!" Kya called before she waved her hand in front of Lin's face

"What?!" Lin had been given some bad news by Mako who had been contacted by Bataar in Zaofu and she had been in a raging temper ever since

"she's still alive" Kya whispered

"but in a coma!"

"Yes, but she's still alive"

"I'm still gonna kill the bitch who did this!"

"I don't doubt that, Lin"

"And mom's gonna be pretty pissed off too"

"yes, the two Beifongs fighting alongside each other, that'd be a force to be reckoned with" Kya nodded

"hey, Lin, hey Kya" Asami walked into the room and stopped when she saw Lin barely in control

"Babe...?" Korra's voice echoed out and she entered the room, "d'ya know where the fire whisky is?" she noticed Lin, "Lin? What happened?" she asked, a note of concern in her voice

"Su has been attacked" Kya explained

"WHAT?!" Korra yelled

"And Katara is missing, presumed dead"

"WHAT?! WHAT?! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!" Korra roared, beyond angry that people were harming her family

"the compound was attacked a few days ago and Su was hurt last night" Kya explained

"and when were you going to tell me?!" Korra growled

"Once we'd found out what had happened to Katara, Korra"

"you're an ass, Lin" Korra whispered, knowing immediately that it was Lin who had decided to keep the information from her

"Fuck you too, Korra" Lin replied

"I'll ready an airship" Asami spluttered before she turned tail and ran from the room, aware that Korra and Lin's glares were likely to result in destroyed property

"I'm sorry, Korra" Lin began

"I'm sorry too Lin" Korra turned away and prepared to blast something out of anger

"Korra, Su is still alive"

"Good... Cos whoever did it will suffer the consequences" Korra growled and shot a massive fireball angrily through the window

"Mind my bamboo!!" Asami squeaked from outside

"sorry, 'Sami" Korra looked away

"the airship is ready to go" Asami called

"then let's go!!" Lin scowled. They ran out to the airship and took off as quickly as the airship allowed them to

*

A few hours later they arrived at Zaofu, a short white haired old woman was waiting for them on the airship dock. "Twinkle Toes" she said quietly

"Mom!" Lin exclaimed, "how...?"

"How did I know?" Toph smiled, "I was in the swamp so I knew"

"What happened then?" Lin growled

"It was a black haired woman" Toph muttered and Kya and Lin shared a dark look

"fuck her" Lin growled

"Well shall we go in?" Toph asked

"Uh huh" Lin nodded and they were led into Suyin's house by Toph who guided then straight to Suyin's bedside

"Su" Lin whispered gently. She had spent so many years hating her sister and had only really started to get along with her in the past decade, only for this to happen

"She'll be alright, Lin" Toph whispered, "she's tough"

"I know"

"Hi, Korra" Toph nodded at the avatar

"Toph" Korra nodded, not noticing Lin and Kya's shared look

Wing and Wei entered, their arms in plaster, "what happened to you two?" Kya asked

"she broke our arms" Wing replied

"it felt as if she had reached inside them and broke them from within" Wei added

"She didn't do anything else?" Lin inquired

"No"

"there's nothing to suggest she's a bloodbender like Amon was, this seems to be something new"

"Bonebending?" Toph asked

"It could be" Lin nodded before she turned back to the twins, "describe her"

"well she had very messy hair" Wing began

"And wore a band over her eyes" Wei continued

"because she didn't have eyes" Wing concluded and his brother looked at him in surprise

"I thought she was just trying to conceal her identity, not that it'd do much good" Wei looked at Korra who paused and looked back in confusion

"Are you meaning to tell me...?" Asami began before Lin hit her shoulder and moved her eyes side to side

Wing and Wei both saw the look Lin gave them so they closed their mouths and turned to Korra, "d'ya think you could run your healing over my arm, Korra?" Wei asked quickly

"Of course, where's the nearest supply of water?"

"A few doors down, we'll take you there"

'let's go"

Once they had left, Asami continued quietly, "did they mean what I thought they meant?"

"I think so" Lin replied quietly

"Plan to fill me in?" Toph grumbled

"Sorry, mom" Lin replied quickly before she moved closer to Asami

"her daughter was attacked so she has a right to know"

"I agree"

"Shit" was all Asami could manage, when she was a missing person, she was just wishful thinking but now, everything had changed.

"Mom, Korra had a sister" Lin began

Toph was very surprised, but years as a cop had given her the ability to not look surprised or mortified at what was now being implied, "and Wei did look at Korra... You think this missing twin could be the person who's killing people?" she asked

"Y..." Asami couldn't even say the word.

"Oh Kylia..." Kya whispered through her tears

"What happened to you?" Lin murmured

*

"i can't accept this!" Asami finally exclaimed after minutes of silence

"can't accept it?" Lin replied

"I just can't accept that anyone in Korra's family could be like this"

"what about Unalaq?" Kya growled

"Not helping, Kya" Asami replied, giving the older woman a death stare. "I'll rephrase then," she added, quickly deflating, "i just can't accept anyone with Korra's face running around killing indiscriminately, least of all someone who is her twin"

"Korra has a twin?" a weak voice replied, everyone looked down at Suyin who's eyes had opened a bit but had obviously been eavesdropping for a little while. "everything makes sense now" she groaned and held her hand up to her heavily bandaged chest

"she probably doesn't know" Lin said sadly

"She doesn't" Suyin breathed through stabs of pain, "she said Ghazan and Ming-Hua were her parents and P'Li was her aunt"

"The Red Lotus..."

"those fucking..."

"Language, Lin" Toph snapped, feeling the next few words rising in her daughter's throat

"Coming from you mom, that's rich" Lin countered

"I'm allowed to, I'm old" Toph replied with a smirk before Wing and Wei came back in

"Korra's just going to the bathroom, she'll be back in in a minute, care to explain why a Korra lookalike nearly killed our mom?" they looked at Lin expectantly

"We don't know yet" Lin replied and Toph smirked a bit, knowing that her daughter was lying

"oh" was all Wing could manage


	10. Zaheer

Korra and any of the surviving guards had been scouring Zaofu for any evidence they could find to try to find out who this woman was and where she was going next. Lin and Asami meanwhile were following up another lead, or so Korra thought, what they were actually doing was visiting Zaheer.

"so... Zaheer" Lin began

"How intriguing" he muttered, "has the Avatar's usefulness to the world come into question yet again?"

Asami moved towards Zaheer but to her surprise, Lin beat her to it. "fuck you!" she hissed and punched him hard enough for him to be thrown back against his shackles, his ability to float doing him no favours

"You seem stressed, Lin" Zaheer commented

Lin went to hit him again but this time Asami beat her to it. She shoved her glove in between the chained man's legs and activated it. Zaheer's shrieks were loud enough to alert the guards on the surface that something wasn't right and five guards ran in with rocks and water ready to strike Zaheer. "it's all under control" Lin muttered, watching Zaheer writhe in pain

"You gonna be more helpful now?" Asami growled, she glared at the guards who ran back outside

"Remind me not to piss you off" Lin commented dryly

"Ha ha, Lin" Asami muttered sarcastically before she turned back to Zaheer, "what the fuck did you do Zaheer?!"

"Gonna have to be a little more specific" he replied, "I've done a lot of bad things" he added hastily while watching the glove move closer again

"Kylia" Lin growled

"Who?"

"she said she was Ghazan and Ming-Hua's daughter, you bastard"

"Ohhh" Zaheer looked her in the eye, "that's that girl's name is it?" he paused, "i only met her about ten years ago" he explained, "Ghazan and Ming-Hua introduced her as their daughter, but I had doubts about that. She looked too much like Korra"

"You didn't know?"

"no"

"And that she can seemingly bend more than one element?"

"no? I was under the impression she was just an airbender, like me. That's how Ghazan introduced her"

"wish I could tell if you're lying" Lin muttered

"Power of flight does sorta limit seismic sense" Zaheer laughed only for his eyes to widen when the earth lifted up and encased him

"Try laughing now" Lin hissed cooly

"i did not know she was able to bend more than air"

Asami looked to Lin who looked away, almost disappointed, "he's not lying"

"or at least you can't tell if he's lying!" Asami growled and placed her glove back and triggered it again. Zaheer's shrieks echoed out once more

"I... I... I'm not lying!" he gasped before he collapsed back into the rocks that surrounded him

"I believe him" Asami nodded, to Lin's astonishment

Lin quickly recovered from her surprise though and pressed Zaheer for more information, "what do you know about Kylia?"

"I know she was the daughter of Ghazan and Ming-Hua, or at least that's what they claimed. She was also an airbender, aged about twenty-seven, now at least and joined the Red Lotus at ten, while I was still in prison"

"And you mentioned she looked like Korra"

"yes, after we failed to kidnap Korra, we retreated back to a hideout and she was there waiting for us. She embraced us all and I was amazed by how much she had grown up, I never actually saw Korra when she was younger so I never made the connection, I didn't notice until after we failed to kidnap her at Zaofu but by then we were so busy planning our next moves I didn't have much time to think about it"

"she was hurt" Kya growled, having stalked in unnoticed

"was she?"

"Yes, you sicko sociopaths didn't subject her to some kind of Red Lotus ritual which involved disabling her like her mother was?"

"spirits, no!" Zaheer exclaimed, "we took care of our members"

"Right" Kya muttered

"he's not lying, Kya" Lin stated

"How was she hurt" Zaheer asked, concerned

"she doesn't have eyes"

"what?" I always tried to teach her to respect her body, on the occasion that I saw her at least"

"it didn't work?"

"She must've torn her own eyes out" Zaheer concluded, "I'll meditate on this, give me a bit of time"

"Fuck that" Asami began

"Asami he may be able to help us" Kya stated

"help us kill her?" Lin growled angrily before she looked at the other two's expressions, "or not?"

"she's been brainwashed by Ghazan and Ming-Hua, Lin" Kya whispered gently

"so she's not going to be punished at all for her crimes?"

"I don't know"

"If you three want my help you'll have to quit your yapping" Zaheer grumbled

*

Zaheer appeared once again in the spirit world, his favourite spot, Xai Bou Grove, named after the Red Lotus' infamous founder. "Zaheer" one of the spirits there squeaked, disappointed that it had been him that had turned up and not the Black Haired Woman

"Spirit, I need your help" it looked at him strangely, "i want to find out what happened to someone I used to know before I was imprisoned for attempting to murder Avatar Korra"

The spirit looked even more displeased, "you failed to kill her, Zaheer!" it hissed, turning darker, "and it was made very clear what would happen if you came back here"

"eternal madness or painful death, it's such a nice choice" Zaheer growled

"Painful death?"

"the Avatar's bitch, that non-bender girl, is in my jail cell with two of the Avatar's playmates"

"then you should've stayed there, Zaheer, there was a time when you were wise, for a human. Death would've been preferable to eternal madness" it grew bigger and grabbed Zaheer by the foot before dragging him face down towards a distant cliff

"wait" Zaheer groaned, the spirit stopped momentarily to hear Zaheer's plea for mercy, "i offered to come here to see what I could learn about a girl called Kylia"

"Kylia?" the spirit dismissed it, "never heard of her"

"She has black hair and a piece of fabric over where her eyes should be!" Zaheer exclaimed

"what of it?"

"you do know who I mean then?"

"I do"

"care to share any of that information?"

"She comes here nearly every single day and whispers to the air around this area, she tells someone she believes to be there about her days and what she's done, how she has been feeling and repeatedly asking for forgiveness for her failures. I don't know if the failures were genuine or just imagined but she believes she's let her parents down"

"Ghazan and Ming-Hua"

"yes"

"she cries over there every single time she comes and each time she vows to avenge their deaths by killing people"

"who?"

"last time she came she told the air that she had 'dealt with' Katara, her White Lotus friends in the south, Suyin Beifong and Suyin's guards" it paused, "she said the next up will be the brothers who killed her parents"

"Does she have any idea that Ghazan and Ming-Hua aren't her parents?"

"No" the spirit replied shortly, "if you didn't want your underlings kidnapping girls and presenting them as their own, why did you not keep a better eye on them?"

"I don't know. But I don't trust the mission to that Kylia girl"

"that does it" the spirit spat and dragged him to the cliff edge above the Fog of Lost Souls, "it was made clear that if you ever returned to the spirit world and were caught, you would be thrown down there for all eternity" the spirit picked him up and got ready to throw him in

"wait" Zaheer sighed, "if you do that then who's gonna tell the Avatar's bitch about Kylia?"

"Point taken" the spirit dumped him and moved away. "this girl is the Avatar's twin, but I believe she's so deep in the lies that Ming-Hua and Ghazan have been feeding her since she was very young, that she'll never believe the truth even if she's told. She's also rather broken and so pissed off by what happened to those she believes to be her parents, her aunt and her uncle that she's going to kill everyone involved, her twin sister included. She tore her own eyes out, I remember hiding in this very bush while she yelled to the air about doing so not long after her parents were killed"

"thank you, spirit"

"next time we catch you here, we WILL condemn you to eternal madness for trying to throw the world out of balance"

*

Zaheer opened his eyes, "you were right. Kylia is Korra's twin sister but she never even knew her real name, they took to calling her 'Cupunko', or 'coal girl' on account of her black hair. That's the name she'll answer to, she won't answer to Kylia and I really would advise against making any references to her looking like Korra"

"You knew her name all along...?" Asami hissed

"no, I knew her as Cupunko" Zaheer replied, "she tore her own eyes out after she saw Korra and realised she was looking in a mirror, although she doesn't appear to remember this particular day. the spirit I spoke to gave no indication to knowing how she could bend more than one element, that'd probably be a question for Raava or a similarly ancient spirit"

"how do we stop her"

"I don't think you can, short of killing her" Zaheer sighed. "apparently Kylia also told the spirit world her next victims, the brothers who killed her parents" Zaheer whispered, knowing that they could easily kill him off now but he hoped that information would spare him a little longer

"Mako?" Asami whispered, "Bolin?"

"the lightningbender and the lavabender"

"Shit!" Lin growled before she, Kya and Asami ran off outside. They had to hurry, even getting back to Korra was a secondary concern

"I'll go to Korra" Kya began, "someone needs to inform Toph and the others what happened here"

"No, Kya, if the brothers are in immediate danger we might need your healing... Asami will go to Zaofu and Korra, you and me will go to Republic City and on the way I'll alert the police, the United Forces and maybe even the Triads"

"i want to help protect Mako and Bolin!" Asami protested

"No offence, but you're a non-bender and Kylia isn't exactly Korra. Go to Zaofu, tell Suyin and Toph what we now know, we'll go to Republic City to try to save Mako and Bolin" Lin ordered before they split up. Asami got on the airship and headed back towards Zaofu while Kya and Lin clambered aboard a White Lotus airship that had just arrived with a guard change and headed back towards Republic City


	11. Mako and Bolin

Kylia snuck through the city, noticing that it was very quiet, perhaps too quiet. She stomped her foot and sensed two people in posh but damaged clothes watching her, they were unafraid but hesitant to attack her, their mistake. She turned around and trapped their feet with earth before she bent a piece of metal around their throats, smiling when she saw the blood drip down their throats. "where is the police station?" she asked

"Over there" the taller of the men replied

"thank you" she smiled but left the metal around their throats

She reached the police station and effortlessly melted a hole in the wall, advancing in cautiously even though she didn't sense anyone nearby. She stomped her foot again and quickly found who she was looking for in an office off of the main area. _Mako_.

*

*

Mako was busy with his daily log when he thought he heard movement in the corridor, he got up and looked outside his room, only to see nothing, and turned back to find himself on the floor, he had been hit by a mass of muscles. "Bo" he groaned

"hi bro!" the excitable young man grunted

"what are you doing here?"

"Can't I come and see my big hotshot detective brother if I want?" Bolin pouted

"well yeah of course you can but..."

"I also feel as if I was meant to be here"

"oh Bo" Mako couldn't help but smile, he did love his knucklehead brother

"don't you feel like nothing can go wrong today?"

"Yeahhh... I guess?" Mako was just about to hug his little brother when the phone rang twice then stopped. "huh, must've been an accidental call?" Mako muttered, something about the phonecall was wrong, just wrong

"bro?" Bolin asked nervously, "bro, what's wrong?"

"It's probably nothi..."

*

*

Kylia had found the main area effortlessly and she slit the throats of the only two officers in the room while they slept. She crept towards the open door slowly, hearing the voices of two of the people she despised the most. "bro? Bro, what's wrong?" she heard a scared voice mutter, she wasn't impressed, for someone that timid had taken her father's life?

"They won't even know what hit them" Kylia mouthed to herself

"It's probably nothi..." she tore the metal beneath the brothers' feet and smiled to herself when they both yelped in surprise and fell through the hole

Bolin was the first to his feet in the corridor he recognised from the time he visited Mako in jail, "seriously bro, this had better not be one of those convoluted surprise training exercises!" Bolin growled

 _He thinks this is a joke!_ Kylia thought to herself and she dropped down with her back turned

"Who are you?" Mako asked

"My name is not important, but if you really want to know, it's Cupunko"

"never heard of you" Bolin stated

"good" Kylia replied and turned, a ball of fire in her hand

"Korra?!" Mako exclaimed

"Wrong!" she threw a bolt of fire at his face, he blocked it and glared at her

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

"Avenging my parents"

"Your parents aren't dead?"

"Yes they are! You killed them!"

"I'm confused..." Bolin admitted

"At least you're honest, if a bit stupid" Kylia admitted, she threw a ball of fire at Mako before immobilising him

"Y... You're a bloodbender?" Mako groaned

"that's awesome...ly not good for us!!" Bolin muttered, "still trying to work out how we killed your parents though"

"My parents were Ghazan and Ming-Hua"

"Bullshit" Mako exclaimed through a grimace, his freshly burnt neck was causing him bother

"fuck you, Mako!" she threw another bolt of fire at Bolin before knocking Mako through a wall and into the sewer system, she flexed her fingers and there was a rumble

"Mako!!" Bolin cried and lifted a chunk of the floor up, turned it into lava and threw it at her

"guess you've got some skill after all!"

"Oh yeah..." Bolin lobbed another blob of lava at Kylia, she stopped it and threw it back before following up with waterbent ice blades

"Fuck you, Bolin!" she shot lightning at his face while immobilising his arms and legs to prevent him from earthbending a barrier, he jerked his chin up and stopped half the blast, the rest struck his chest and he screamed

A lightning bolt hit Kylia in the back, she instinctively redirected it and threw it at Bolin who screamed again, this time smoking. "a little bit of water won't stop me" Mako growled

"But this might" Kylia snarled and twisted her fingers, Mako felt the bones in his body bend, then snap

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!" Mako screamed and he felt himself rise, lifted only by his shattered bones and slammed into a wall

"M... M..." Bolin stuttered weakly before he felt himself fly through the wall opposite him, his bones receiving the same treatment

"now, to finish you both off!" Kylia screamed, she raised her hands, threw Mako through the same hole and used a shard of metal to cut his throat. "next up... Is Korra! Without you two there, even the 'avatar' will fall, she won't know what hit her!" she pulled her arm back and prepared to slice Bolin's throat as well. She began to move forward to deliver the final blow but was utterly surprised when the whole wall tore itself in half and slammed into her, knocking her out of the cell.

"You will not harm Korra!!" a female voice snarled with unimaginable venom, even more than Kylia was capable of. Kylia groaned and sensing reinforcements, she ran, but not before she threw another shard of metal at Bolin's throat

Mako and Bolin looked up expecting to see Lin, who they saw instead startled both of them

A/N: can't get the bleeding paragraphs sorted so single star thing means a different paragraph and a double one means change of location/point of view. Does anyone know how to stop this bleeding app putting new paragraphs/extra lines in every time a new line is started?


	12. Reunion

"what the flameo happened here?!" Lin exclaimed, looking around at the decimated lower level of the police station, she and Kya noted the giant hole in the floor which had obviously been metalbent

"Looks like it was some fight" Kya muttered before she noticed two limp bodies sitting in chairs at their desks, she moved over to them and shook her head at Lin.

The chief of police growled angrily before she heard a desperate sounding voice, "no! No! Mako!"

Another voice intermingled with Bolin's desperate cries, "no Bolin, stay still! If you keep moving you'll lose even more blood. I'm sorry, he's most likely gone"

"MAKO!!"

Lin dropped down in a fighting stance, she, of course, recognised the woman's voice. "stand down!" she growled before she stopped, realising she was kneeling at Bolin's side and putting as much pressure on his wound as she could.

"Help him!" the woman called desperately

"Kya?" Lin called to her companion who had just dropped down by her side

"Lin, it has to be you"

"I suppose you're right" Lin admitted

"I'll go look at Mako"

"alright" Lin moved over to Bolin and held her arms out in front of her. After a few seconds the blood flowing out of his neck had lessened and a few seconds later it had stopped. "wrap his neck up!" Lin ordered, Bolin was hovering somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness while the woman continued to have her head bowed over him, fumbling with some of her prison uniform which she had torn to make a makeshift bandage.

"shit" she panted

"what were you doing?!" Lin exclaimed, "how did you get out of your cell?!"

For a few moments, nobody spoke, then Bolin groaned, "Kuvira?"

"yes, Bolin?"

"thank you for saving my life and thank you for trying to save my brother's"

"You're welcome" Kuvira smiled down at the young man

"you... You saved them?" Lin whispered, nearly disbelievingly

"yes. Someone attacked them but ended up throwing them through my cell wall. She was advancing on them explaining how Korra would be next so I acted on instinct, I moved the entire wall and smashed her into the wall. She ran before I could stop her so I busied myself trying to save Bolin and Mako" she looked up hopefully towards Kya

"he's gone" she whispered

"no!" Bolin sighed, "NO!!"

"Can we be of assistance?" Tenzin poked his head through the hole in the ceiling, joined seconds later by Opal and Jinora

"Tenzin" Lin acknowledged

"Bolin!" Opal cried and dropped down next to him, "who did this to you?" she looked at Kuvira, "it wasn't, HER, was it?"

Lin and Kya shared a look, wondering how much the brothers, and Kuvira, had learned. "no" Bolin whispered weakly, "she SAVED me"

"Kuvira?" Opal whispered quietly

"I saved him, Opal" Kuvira confirmed and found herself in Opal's tight embrace, "it's otay, Opal" Kuvira wheezed

"I'm so sorry, Kuvira!" Opal whispered, tears running down her face and her throat burning. She had been so intent on hating Kuvira that she hadn't come to visit the whole six years she had been in jail and hadn't intended to visit for the rest of her twenty year to life sentence. Kuvira's cell bore the hallmarks of a more permanent prison cell, there were a few personal items here and there as well as the platinum walls

"we'd better get these two to a hospital" Tenzin sighed, Korra was not going to like this. "any idea who attacked them?"

Before Bolin or Kuvira could speak, Lin interrupted, "no" she replied flatly

"alright, load then up on Oogi" Tenzin muttered and Lin and Kya did so, Lin carried her fallen subordinate and Kya carried Bolin carefully, Opal tagging alongside her

"I'm going to stay here" Jinora whispered

"Why?"

"I want to talk to Kuvira"

"No, Jinora"

"dad!!"

"fine. But have officers with you at all times" he turned to Lin

"it will be done" Lin signalled and several officers ran towards them

"Wait outside please" Jinora asked once her father had left

"Why do you want to spend your time with a murderer like me?" Kuvira asked bluntly

"because I can see you're struggling, and your actions earlier convinced me you've always tried to do the right thing, even if you got led astray"

"Thank you" Kuvira let out a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding. Jinora certainly was more forgiving than the judge and jury that had sentenced her

"Kuvira, who attacked them? It's important, more important than you currently know"

"A young woman attacked them" Kuvira began, "she was pretty ruthless, she attacked them without provocation and the brothers seemed to be on the back foot from the start, I heard mainly screams and yelps from the brothers until they flew through my cell, Mako was bleeding heavily and Bolin didn't look much better. She advanced through the now broken cell wall and I got my first good look at her..."

"and?"

"Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Yes!"

"she looked like Korra"

Jinora felt like she was unable to breathe, she began to panic until she felt strong hands on her arms. "breathe" Kuvira reminded her

"KORRA did this?!" Jinora breathed once she had calmed down enough

"I said she looked like Korra, unless Korra has ripped her own eyes out, then this was not Korra"

"no, I would've known if she had, Asami would've told people, and Lin and Kya would know because they have seen her in the past few days"

"exactly"

"did she use a name?"

"not that I heard"

"Korra's past is so shrouded in mystery, I don't think even my dad knows it all"

"wouldn't surprise me..."

"Jinora"

"Wouldn't surprise me, Jinora"

"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to go and speak to Lin and aunt Kya"

"Thank you for staying for a while, I don't get any visitors"

"You're welcome" Jinora smiled and walked out, confident that she had helped nurture the seed of good in Kuvira. Kuvira sighed and sat down in her ruined cell

*

"is Bolin going to be alright?" Opal whispered

"He should be alright, Opal"

"thank you for helping him, aunt Lin"

"i couldn't stand by and do nothing, Opal" she turned to look at Tenzin "Tenzin, I need to speak to my niece"

"I understand, Lin" he leant back

"Alone" her eyes narrowed

"Of course" he airbent himself to his feet and hurried off

"Opal" Lin began cautiously

"out with it, Lin" Opal whispered, staring at the older woman

"you sure?"

"yes!!" Opal growled, "i want to know who attacked my Bolin, and I want to have revenge!"

"you're still a Beifong through and through" another voice called

"Jinora!" Opal ran to her and hugged her best friend

"I'm here, Opal, please don't let me stop you, Lin"

"you already know, don't you?"

"I spoke with Kuvira, so I know what she knows"

"Well, Korra has... A twin"

"What?!" Opal gasped but Jinora didn't look overly surprised

"until very recently we thought she was dead, or at least that's what Senna and Tonraq told us"

"Us?"

"Me and Kya, and later Asami"

"Korra doesn't know? Makes sense" Jinora pondered

"well after the incident in the South Pole..."

"What incident in the South Pole?"

"the compound there was attacked"

"Gran-Gran?" Jinora inquired timidly and Lin shook her head

"no..." Jinora's eyes filled with tears but she nodded for Lin to continue, Opal wrapped her arms around her best friend and hugged her tightly

"the compound attack had certain similarities to other attacks that had been occurring sporadically across the coast of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, a black haired woman was behind these attacks, but it wasn't until Zaofu was attacked" it was Opal's turn to go white, "did we have a face to match the hair"

"mom? Dad? Wing? Wei? Huan?" Opal whispered

"All still alive, fortunately" Opal sighed and let a few tears fall, "your mom is hurt, as are Wing and Wei, but I guess the woman thought she was dead"

"And this woman's name? And true identity?"

"her name is Kylia. She was Korra's twin, but was taken from Senna and Tonraq's house by two of the Red Lotus." Jinora looked appalled and Opal looked angry

"Didn't realise kidnapping was part of even their resume" Opal growled

"they tried the same on Korra when she was revealed as the avatar" Lin added

"Fuck them...!" Jinora scowled

"Ghazan and Ming-Hua raised Kylia as Cupunko and their own. Naturally she was badly affected when Ghazan and Ming-Hua, as well as P'Li died and Zaheer was imprisoned so she started her killing spree"

Opal and Jinora didn't speak for several minutes, they were hugging and crying for Korra, crying for Senna and Tonraq, as well as Kylia's lost childhood and all the experiences she missed. "poor girl" Jinora cried

"aunt Lin, you can't blame Kylia..."

"And why not?"

"because it's the Red Lotus' fault what has happened to her and what she's doing is as a result of their brainwashing"

 _if only it would be that easy to convince a jury_ Lin thought to herself, "You're pretty wise, Opal" Lin admitted _wouldn't be surprised if you get your tattoos soon_

*

Kya knocked on the door and opened it, with Senna and Tonraq in tow. "hey, sweetie" Kya whispered and kissed her girlfriend

"You wanted to see us?" Senna whispered, conscious of Bolin who was asleep

"yes. Please, take a seat..."

Senna and Tonraq sat and waited expectantly but it was Kya who broke the silence. "Senna, Tonraq, I'm afraid we have some good and some bad news"

"oh?"

"your daughter is alive..."

"really...?! T..." Senna was interrupted by Lin

"And she's the one who's been attacking people"

"no" Tonraq growled, he looked less human and more wolf or polar bear dog in those few seconds

"I'm sorry Tonraq, there's no other explanation"

"I can't believe it!" Senna cried

"the night she disappeared, she was taken from your home by the Red Lotus"

"Those fucking c..." Tonraq was interrupted by a slap on his wrist from Senna

"Language, Tonraq, there's children here"

"Trust me, I hear worse from uncle Bumi" Jinora giggled, Opal rolled her eyes and joined in with the giggling

"Why am I not surprised?" Senna rolled her eyes

"Ghazan and Ming-Hua raised her as their own after they took her and nurtured her bending abilities, she's like your daughter in at least one sense, she can bend all four elements"

"but Korra is the Avatar"

"don't ask me to explain it" Lin replied

"Does Korra know?" Senna asked

"no"

"Asami?"

"yes. She came to Zaheer's cell with us"

"That bastard" Tonraq growled before the door opened again, much to everyone's surprise

*

"Bolin!!" Asami cried and ran forward, closely followed by Korra, Toph and Suyin, who brought up the rear supported by her sons.

"shit. Bo, I'm sorry!" Korra sobbed before everything went black

"uh... Korra?" Asami turned to her and went white when Korra fell to her knees and passed out without so much as a whimper. "Korra!" she ran to her side and picked her up gently

Korra was tossing and turning even though she was out of it, she screamed and screamed and screamed. One of the nurses ran up with a needle only to find herself encased in metal. "no you don't" Lin seethed

"It's sedative" the nurse replied

"I don't give a damn" Lin leered menacingly, she turned her back on the nurse and knelt next to Korra. "she's still alive..."

"No shit, Lin" Asami grimaced. "she hasn't stopped screaming"

"Oh yeah" Lin yelled back, her ears covered and her eyes filled with tears

"I think she's remembering" Senna yelled

"remembering what?" Opal, Bolin, Toph, Suyin, Wing, Wei and Jinora asked together. Kuvira had also entered the room flanked by several police officers, much to the distaste of Suyin and her boys but Opal ran to her and hugged her

"The worst day of her life" Asami sighed softly and sobbed uncontrollably


	13. Running Away

Kylia growled in pain, her entire body was sore from her encounter with the wall. "fuck" she panted before sitting down heavily on the floor, in too much pain to even bend herself a seat or create herself a fire to warm herself. It was past midnight and Kylia had just crossed the outer border of the city. _Fuck you, Kuvira!_ she thought and growled angrily, _interfering bitch!_

"hey! You!"

What now?She turned and faced the man who had called out to her

"You're pretty, but if you don't give me all your money, I'll be forced to punch a hole through you"

"I got nothin', besides, you'd be dead before you took a single step"

"oh?" the man laughed and stepped forward. He trapped Kylia's feet in ice before he swung his arms and nearly beheaded Kylia with waterbending.

"you won't harm me, thug"

"really?!" he bent another jet of water towards Kylia's throat, it narrowly missed her throat for a second time.

"you can't hurt me!" Kylia laughed, even though she was utterly exhausted, she still enjoyed playing with the man in front of her

"fuck you" the man growled before he trapped Kylia in ice so she couldn't move. He then used a spike of ice to stab her in the side. "i can't hurt you?" he laughed

"you... Can't... Hurt... Me" Kylia repeated, obviously in pain

"Oh yeah?" he bent another ice blade at Kylia's throat

"yeah" Kylia growled, having taken the blow to her jugular. She allowed the blow to clip her throat and then redirected his arm with bloodbending but less subtly than she had done before, using the force he had put into the blow to thrust the ice through his chest. She knew she had to end the fight quickly otherwise she would've collapsed even without the wound on her neck

"uuuggghhh" the man's eyes widened, he groaned and collapsed, Kylia reached up and though she felt her strength leaving her, she tried to feel her blood and contain it within her body but because her consciousness was slipping, she found it exceedingly difficult to do.

*

"shit" Kylia growled and collapsed after she had stumbled her way down the slope that led to where she had hidden her boat. She felt her consciousness slipping again because her bloodbending was failing as quickly as her strength, but a second after she had closed her eyes she opened them again. _What the?_ She looked around, finding herself in a cave in the darkness and there was a strange figure standing in front of her. The figure, she noted, looked familiar and had white glowing eyes, but instead of being full of anger, drive and hatred as she had seen before, although she couldn't remember where she had seen the glowing eyes before, they were completely empty and devoid of life, purpose and energy. _What the fuck?_ Her thoughts had become overwhelmed by pain, she looked down and saw long gashes that went the entire length of her lower arms and her upper legs. She realised she was holding sharp shards of ice at least ten inches long and they were soaked in blood, her blood. She then, as she slowly got weaker, became aware of a tight feeling around her neck and jabbing pain on either side of her neck as well as more warm feelings of blood. She felt her mouth open and she felt herself screaming. She felt her consciousness slipping once more, _what the fuck is happening?!_ Was her last thought before she fell unconscious once again as she had never been inside a cave of ice in her whole life and she rarely stepped foot in either of the Water Tribes just because she loathed the cold, besides she had only been there at night the one time she chose to attack the White Lotus. The last thing she saw was the strange figure in front of her, it seemed to be smiling as if to ease her into oblivion. She felt a distinct feeling of relief pass over her body and mind in the final seconds, as if she'd been running a ridiculous number of marathons to get away from... Something

*

Kylia woke up on a hammock suspended from two nearby trees, there was a noise and she turned her head weakly, "hey, don't move too much" a familiar voice whispered

"Iroh..." Kylia breathed

"When I found you, you were screaming your head off and bleeding out" he muttered

"H... How did you find me?"

"I don't know, right place, right time perhaps?" he paused and adjusted a bandage around Kylia's neck, "you were really beaten about...?"

"yeah, got my ass handed to me, twice, then I fell down that damn hill back there"

"Want me to go beat up whoever it was?" Iroh offered sincerely

"Nah, they're in a gutter somewhere" Kylia replied, she knew that now was not a good time to reveal that she had murdered two of Republic City's most famous people and at least two police officers as well as a thug.

"you killed them?"

"Yup"

"Spirits, you must be strong"

"I got careless" she admitted

"I'm sorry, I don't even know your name?"

 _Shit... I need a fake name!_ she feigned weakness for a few seconds to give herself time to think of one

"hey, stay with me..." Iroh muttered when her eyes drifted half closed, "you need hospital" he shook her gently

"no... I'll be alright, the wound isn't that bad" Kylia breathed

"no, you're coming with me, our forces ship has a med bay"

"Iroh." Iroh stopped talking immediately, "I'm fine"

Iroh began to complain but Kylia reached up to her neck and lifted water up to her throat, making progress on healing it, "i was worried...?"

"Arjalinerk"

"I was worried, Arjalinerk"

 _Fuck_ Kylia thought, _oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!_ The last thing she needed was someone worrying after her, the band across her eyes and uncontrollably filthy hair made her stand out quite badly

"And why were you screaming your head off?"

"Don't understand it myself"

"oh, right then" Iroh had no idea what to say to that and he stood there nervously

"You can go now, Iroh, thanks for your help" she smiled but behind the smile there was a cold shard of ice. He nodded and hurried away.

*

"phew" Kylia breathed and smiled, relieved that he had gone before she had been forced to hurt him. _He could come in handy!_ She smirked to herself and walked slowly back to her boat. "i need a lie down" she groaned after berating herself a bit more for her carelessness earlier. She was still trying to work out what her vision was, although she was all too ready to put it down to her hypoxic state, part of her knew what she had just experienced was inexplicably important to her, her life and her future. _What the fuck did that mean?!_ She repeated to herself, "spirits! What the fuck did that mean?!" she yelled out as if they were there and as if they had the answers. She had just cut off a sizable amount of her hair. "Why was I in that cave?! Why was I bleeding out?!" She compulsively checked her arms and legs with her fingers, as she had started doing on the way back to the boat after Iroh had saved her life, but she felt nothing, as always. Not so much as a scratch or a blemish other than a few very faint scars she had acquired in her training but those were nowhere near serious enough to represent the damage that would've been caused by those particular wounds. _I need to visit the spirit world... In person_


	14. Korra's Discovery

Korra woke in a hospital bed, she was too weak to do anything other than softly sigh after what she had experienced. After several minutes of her forced inactivity, she found the energy to activate the avatar state. Her eyes glowed for less than a second and it imbibed her with enough energy to move her head and her arms. First, she compulsively checked her arms with both her fingers and eyes, she was unable to see anything but when she rubbed her fingers over certain parts of her arms, she felt bumps that felt like knotted muscle. "what in the name of?" she whispered, her eyes widening

The door opening interrupted her trail of thought, "Korra!" the woman exclaimed happily, "the others were worried you'd never wake up, but I believed in you"

"'Sami" Korra whispered weakly before she began to shake as tears coursed their way down her face

"Korra..." Asami ran to her side and brought her close, not caring or thinking about hiding her own tear stained face

The door opened again and Lin stepped through, "Korra?" she inquired quietly before she moved over and hugged her tightly. "it's otay, Korra" Lin whispered

"Lin" Korra muttered and pulled the older woman closer, thankful that she wasn't wearing her armour

"Shit, Asami" Korra whispered, this knowledge was for her girlfriend and Lin alone, "that was horrific"

"what did you see?" Asami probed gently

"I was in a cave and... And... I... I... H... Hurt myself. I... I... T... T...tied to k..."

"Easy, Korra" Asami muttered and began to rub her hands over her girlfriend's back

"'Sami"

"Now, breathe, and finish telling us what you saw" she saw the door open slightly and a blue eye appear in the crack but paid it no mind, this was Korra's time and she'd be damned if anything, even Vaatu himself, interrupted this

Korra took a deep breath, "i was in a cave, in the South Pole, I had just hurt myself with ice blades and I was trying not only to hurt myself... But I was trying to k... Kill myself" Korra sobbed quietly into Asami's shoulder, her and Lin's comforting arms providing some reassurance and comfort, but not much

*

"so you found out" Senna whispered as she came in and shut the door

"what do you mean, mom?"

"You have remembered it all" Senna looked pained

"y... You knew?" Korra stuttered

"Of course I knew, I am mommy" Senna whispered, she looked horrified seconds later when Korra turned her back on her. "Korra..." Senna whispered, nearly pleading

"What else are you hiding from me?" was all Korra said in reply before she gripped on to Lin and Asami tightly, trying not to cry in front of the woman who had betrayed her trust

Senna and Tonraq, the latter of whom was still half hidden by the door, shared a guilty look that they were thankful Korra hadn't seen. They wanted to protect her from these things for as long as they could, but their plan had failed. They retreated back out to the waiting room and rejoined the others

*

"fuck her" Korra growled, although Asami knew her girlfriend well enough to know that even though the growl sounded frightening there wasn't any real venom behind it, yes, Korra was pissed off, but eventually she'd learn to accept what they had hidden from her

"Korra..." Lin whispered

"Yes, Lin?"

"I'm just glad you woke"

Korra smiled and finally let the tears fall

*

"Is she alright?!" Senna and Tonraq were bombarded with concern from nearly everyone in the waiting room, the hospital staff had to clear out a whole waiting room to make room for all of Korra's group, amongst those assembled there were Opal, her mother, Tenzin, Jinora, Toph, Bumi, Kya and Kuvira.

"Yes, I think she's going to be fine, Asami and Lin are with her at the moment, she's resting"

"oh spirits" Jinora breathed a sigh of relief and fell back on Opal's shoulder

"hey, Opal, you're not trying to steal my fiance, are you?" "Kai!!" Jinora exclaimed then went red

"of course not, Kai" Opal smiled and pushed Jinora off her lap, and into Kai's waiting arms

"hey!" Jinora exclaimed, "i was comfo..." she was silenced when Kai lifted her up and swung her around much to the amusement of everyone there, or were they just amused by Jinora being shoved off Opal's lap?

"ha, I warned ya, sis!" another woman's voice called

"Ikki!" she ran to hug her younger sister after Kai had put her down. She never ceased to be amazed by how much her sister had changed over the years, she wasn't the excitable immature kid anymore, she was a mature adult, well, most of the time

"sorry, Jin" Opal smirked

 _She's not sorry_ Jinora thought, "whatever, O" she smirked and pretended to turn her back on Opal

"hey" Opal muttered in fake hurt before she walked over to Kuvira and sat by her side

"Hey, O" Kuvira muttered quietly

"hey, Kuv"

"i never got to thank you two properly for vouching for me"

"And I never got to apologise properly for not visiting you"

Kuvira pulled Opal into a hug before they were interrupted by Tenzin's voice, "now that we're all here, me and Lin were planning to take statements"

"You're not going to involve the police are you?" Senna's voice was quiet but determined

"uh... Well... Uh"

"What the dopey air head means to say is... We'll be taking statements ourselves, no word of this will leave this little group of ours. We need to work out what is driving this girl, what her motives are, and what she has planned next" Lin's voice echoed out into the room with a tone of finality to it from over by the door to Korra's room. "nobody will tell anyone else what's going on and you will certainly not inform Raiko" it was the man's third and final term, thankfully. "else you'll find yourselves in a jail cell, am I clear?"

"Yes, Chief" a chorus of voices echoed out. Lin could detect a small tone of pride in her mother's voice

"Kya would you mind coming and giving Korra a once over? I don't like how she collapsed"

"Of course, sweetie" Kya called, enthralled that she could finally openly call Lin sweetie without it sounding weird

"What about Bolin?" Opal called

"Bolin will be moved to the mansion, he'll join Su, Wing and Wei in the healing baths where Senna, Tonraq and I will assist Asami's doctor in treating their wounds" Kya replied

"And Mako?" Kai asked after his adoptive big brother

"I'm sorry, Kai, he didn't make it" Kuvira muttered

Kai looked down sadly and everyone else except Lin, Jinora, Opal and Kya gasped in shock. Mako had been one of the core members of Team Avatar since the beginning, to think that he was gone left a big hole in the group. "does Korra know yet?" Jinora whispered

"No" Lin muttered. "we have to tell her, just not here. She'd probably bring the whole hospital down"

"True" Kai laughed, able to find amusement where none should exist and even managed to get some laughs out of a few of the others

"mom, when we get back to the mansion will you help me and air head over there take statements?" Lin had poked her head around the door and had asked Toph for her help

"Hmph" Toph grunted, "still haven't forgiven that ass for breaking your heart, but yes"

"thanks, mom"

*

Ten minutes later, everyone was ready to move out of the hospital. Korra was quickly bundled from her wheelchair into the back of Asami's Satomobile along with Lin and Kya, Lin sat in the back on one side of Korra while Asami sat on the other. Lin had sternly told them that she'd be driving but her arguments had been shot down by Kya who reminded Lin that Korra trusted her more than anyone, save Asami. Kya had to promise she'd be careful with Asami's other pride and joy though. Bolin and Suyin had to be transported by ambulance, Wing and Wei went with their mother, as did Toph but Opal, Senna and Tonraq went with Bolin. Korra still wasn't speaking to either of her parents and she remained in a sullen silence until she was safely belted up in the back of Asami's satomobile. Tenzin and his kids went on Oogi, Bumi had called in a favour with one of his former subordinates and had acquired a United Forces prisoner transport vehicle to transport Kuvira to the mansion. "Korra" Lin sighed and wrapped her arms around the girl from behind, her head was on Asami's shoulder and she was sobbing silently, thankful that nobody else had seen her like this

"I'm alright, Lin"

"bullfrogshit" Asami whispered quietly and gently stroked Korra's cheeks lovingly

"i am alright" Korra repeated, "because I've got you two" Lin and Asami smiled widely, "and you too of course Kya" Korra added and the older woman chuckled

"don't worry about offending me Korra, I've always known you prefer these two" she pointed at Asami and Lin

"thanks, Kya"

"You're welcome"

"y'know, I'd like it if you two called me what Asami calls me"

"What, sweetie? Or babe?" Lin smirked and Kya swatted her hand in embarrassment

"Lin!"

"very funny, Lin" Korra laughed, "who knew you had a sense of humour?" Lin smiled but poked Korra's side which caused her to grimace-smile

"wow, Varrick was right, that really does work!" Kya laughed, watching in the rear view mirror

"fuck you, Lin!" Korra tried to look pissed off but she couldn't shake the grin. "no, I'd like it if you two called me Kor, like Asami does" Korra added "babe and sweetie and baby are reserved for Asami ONLY" a hint of a warning laced her mutterings

"I'd love to, Kor" Kya exclaimed

"yes, what she said, Kor" Lin added

*

They arrived back at the mansion after a leisurely paced drive in order to give Korra time to calm down. The small group walked in to the mansion to find everyone crashed out in one of Asami's many lounges. Bumi was ensuring Kuvira was comfortable in the detachable back of the van that served to contain potentially dangerous prisoners throughout the judicial process from arrest through court appearances to final imprisonment. Senna and Tonraq were huddled up in a corner away from the rest of the group. Bolin was lying on his wheeled hospital bed with Opal by his side, his entire body completely encased in plaster and there were many pen marks all over his body that had been used to indicate where platinum rods needed to be placed. Toph, Wing, Wei and Jinora sat around Suyin's bed who was talking about her days as a dancer. Ikki, Kai and Tenzin were discussing something or other about the Air Nation. Kai and Jinora still remained holding each others hands even though they were both taking part in different conversations. Korra knew something was wrong immediately, but she couldn't place her finger on it immediately. It clicked, "wait... Where's Mako" she called. Everyone stopped talking and turned towards Korra, their smiles at hearing her voice faded faster than they had appeared.

"Korra..."Asami began

"Mako... Didn't make it" Kya finished

"no... No...!" Korra exclaimed and stumbled back into the wall where she slipped down it and sat in a heap. "Mako..." Korra felt the darkness closing in on her and she fell sideways into Asami's welcoming arms

"you lot didn't see anything..." Lin and Kya both glared at everyone assembled while Asami awkwardly lifted Korra up and carried her off to a bed

"anyway..." Bolin's voice echoed out and he launched back into his story about how he and Varrick had escaped Earth Empire territory, with a little help, of course. Everyone remained transfixed on him while he finished his story

Kya and Lin breathed, relieved and they went to sit with Senna and Tonraq. "how are you two holding up?" Lin asked softly

"S... She hasn't spoken to us since she found out about her suicide attempt" Tonraq muttered sadly

"I hope we did the right thing" Senna sighed and wiped her eyes

"You always did what you thought was best for Korra" Lin told them and placed her hands on their shoulders

A/N: consider this two part upload an apology for me not being very active the past few days


	15. Trail of Gruesome Endings

Kylia growled her displeasure at being wolf whistled at again. "fuck off" she hissed

"Aww beautiful, I'm only messing" the man drawled back

"well I'm not!" she remembered something her mother and aunt had taught her when she was very young and then reminded her of in the time they had together before they were killed. She pseudo-glared at the man before she tried to walk away

"you really are beautiful aren't you?" he whispered before raising his hand towards her cheek

"i wouldn't know, would I?" Kylia whispered, pointing to her eyes before she flexed her fingers and the man gasped in pain, "don't touch me!"

She sidestepped him quickly only to find herself surrounded. "what did you do to him?"

"Relax, I only broke his fingers, now if you'd excuse me, I've got to go to the Northern Water Tribe"

"you're not going anywhere"

"really? If you wanna play it THAT way, then... So. Be. It." She dropped into a bending stance that none of them had ever seen before, it was somewhere between an airbending stance, a waterbending stance and an earthbending stance

The men just laughed and pulled out their various elements, "you're going to sell for quite a high price, beautiful"

 _Slavers_. Kylia thought with hate, _this has just gone from bad to worse_. She immediately sprung into action, she swept her leg low and knocked one of them down before she quickly chi blocked another, one grabbed her wrist and she grunted before heating her hand up so much that the man yelped and let go quickly. Kylia felt a solid object hit her from behind, she fell to the floor, dazed but still rolled out of the way of a fire blast before she chucked the man away using his own bones which she had crushed. Another man threw a fireball at her head so she did the only thing she could, she took a deep breath and exhaled forcibly, her airbending enhanced breath enough to put out the fireball and throw her attacker into the air. She followed up her attack by bending the air out of their lungs the way Zaheer showed her once they were reunited and they all collapsed either dead or dying. "shit!" she spat, if there was something she hated more than the avatar, it was slavers, or human traffickers as they had become known recently. _They're the same as slavers_ , Kylia thought to herself, _so why not call them that?_ Slavers had become more common since the Red Lotus took out the entire Earth Kingdom government but they already had a certain amount of business opportunities in the Earth Kingdom because Earth Queen Hou-Ting was more concerned about her personal wealth than she was about her citizens, extorting them to the point of poverty which, in turn, increased the likelihood that they'd be vulnerable. Kuvira had done little to tackle the traffickers, not realising that the bandits she fought were just some of the problematic people in her Empire

*

Kylia growled to herself and watched from a distance, the building she had been watching was the same one the men she had murdered had led her to. she remembered her mother's words, 'Kylia, sweetie, if you ever see a band of slavers, don't hesitate to let them know who you are with a practical demonstration. Leader Zaheer wouldn't fully understand, even though he values freedom of anarchy, he doesn't fully understand what those people do. They are scum of the earth, perhaps more so than even the avatar and the tyrannical governments she supports. Do not hesitate to kill slavers and free the victims, often victims include families with children as young as you. The wolf whistle originates from that group of people, it was originally the call a slaver used to ask if another person was one or interested in buying what they had to offer and therefore it became derogatory towards not just women, but men and children too'. She growled and watched for another few minutes before she decided to attack. _I'll sneak in and bloodbend all the sick motherfuckers!_ Kylia thought to herself. She disappeared underground and moved subtly into position in the basement below the building, sealing the tunnel behind her to avoid being detected. Kylia had raised her fingers to her lips to shush the children there before she stomped her foot, her seismic sense could 'see' everything that was happening in the building and she found a lot of it sickening. _Time to show you sick bastards what happens!_ She thought and lifted herself into the middle of the building with a lift of her chin. Surprised cries echoed out around her and then every one of the slavers groaned, they had all been caught in her bloodbending. She used metalbending to break the chains and handcuffs of everyone there, those in the basement were as young as five, being kept out of the way until they could be sold for labour and the ones in the main room were adults. She watched the victims clear out of the room and go and free the rest of the people imprisoned in the building which had been a warehouse at some point. Once she was certain the building was clear, she began toying with the people she had under her control. She moved her hands in a flowing pattern and the slavers' bodies all twisted, more often than not with a yelping cry of pain. "you're dead meat" Kylia growled before she clenched one of her fists and several of the men were forced into a ball, every bone that got in the way broke, every organ that was trapped was crushed and every muscle that resisted got torn. She dropped them and then moved another couple forward. "your turn" she restricted the flow of blood into their brains for long enough to make sure they never harmed another person again and then let them go too. She moved another four forward and held one hand still but pulled the other one back, every blood vessel in their bodies ruptured before she let them go too, dropping them to the floor like she had done before. She moved on to the last five, save the leader. These five moved forward as she clenched her fists. She and the leader watched them all collapse into a pile of broken bones and useless flesh. She turned to the leader of the ring and pseudo leered at him menacingly, she then flexed her fingers and the man felt every drop of liquid in his body rebel against him, from the blood to the stomach acid. "you're dead" she threw him around the room a bit, making sure he made a few sickening crunches then flipped him upside down and smashed him in to the top of one of the roof support beams. She took a piece of metal and, using her metalbending, shoved it through him and in to the support beam leaving him hanging there unable to move or lift his head or legs up higher than his stomach, she ensured he couldn't move by crushing every bone in his body. "now for the final touch" she smirked before she used the man's stomach acid to punch a small hole in his stomach. She walked away slowly knowing that the man would die an agonising death and that she had saved a number of people from being sold off as property.

*

A day after she freed the slaves, Kylia peeked over the edge of the Northern Water Tribe palace before she snuck between two guards and into the palace. "Cake" she muttered, unimpressed and moved through the rooms before she heard Eska and Desna's monotone voices. "revenge time"

"Hey! Who are you?!" a man exclaimed from behind her, dropping into a waterbending stance

"I'm just a bad dream" Kylia replied, she then punched a huge chunk of ice into his chest, winding him and breaking a number of his bones. Kylia then walked into the throne room to face her enemies, "Eska. Desna. I am here to claim right of vengeance upon you two for your father's cowardice and your role in imprisoning my parents"

"Uhhh..." Desna began, "who are you?"

"My name, although not important, is Cupunko. I am the daughter of Ming-Hua and Ghazan and heir to the leadership of the Red Lotus!"

"are you sure?" Eska asked

"Yup" Kylia replied before Eska and Desna looked at each other. "any last words?"

"I believe the Red Lotus has misled you, you are clearly not Ming-Hua and Ghazan's daughter, although I admit I am slightly shocked by who you might be related to. She did not have any other relatives or siblings"

"enough talk" Kylia replied before she beheaded Desna with a single blow from a water whip

"Desna!!" Eska screamed before she launched an all out attack on the intruder, who was somehow able to avoid all the strikes.

"goodbye, Eska. Don't worry, I'll get your cousin too... Soon" she smiled and thrust several spikes through Eska. She laughed as she walked away, "when will these people even be a challenge?"

One of the palace guards found Eska seconds later, he had been bringing them tea when he stumbled in on the gruesome scene. "Chief Eska!"

"do not worry... About me... Contact Chief Tonraq and inform him... That someone who looks like his daughter is running... Around... Killing... Pe...o...oplee" Eska's eyes closed before he could do anything to help save her

*

Outside the palace, Kylia couldn't shake what Desna had said. She made her way back to her boat deep in thought, Ming-Hua and Ghazan had always been careful not to tell them where they gave birth to her or even if they did give birth to her. "no. No, they wouldn't betray me like that" Kylia muttered and she set off towards the Fire Nation and her next victims, albeit not entirely reassured that her parents had being telling the whole truth, if they had been telling the truth at all


	16. I have a TWIN!

"You whatnow?!" Tonraq's angry voice echoed out from his and Senna's room in the Sato mansion. "yes, I understand. They don't have any children, do they?" a few moments of silence, "no that won't do, I'm the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. She won't do either, she has to remain impartial, we need to find someone but the names you're suggesting aren't going to be able to do it. I'll have to talk to you later"

Senna came over looking worried, "what's happened?"

"Eska and Desna are dead" Tonraq sighed, "apparently Eska used her last breath to order that poor man to ring me and tell me that, and that some Korra lookalike was the one to commit the murders"

"Lin was right..." Senna sat back and covered her face with her hands

"There's more... Kylia will eventually come after us, and Korra"

"she'd murder her own parents, and sister?"

"I don't think she'd recognise us... Senna, she tore her own eyes out"

"no" Senna cried

"I'm going to go downstairs and tell the others what we now know, I'll also ring Air Temple Island and the Fire Nation Palace to warn them they may be in imminent danger"

"..." Senna didn't reply, she just sat there sobbing

*

Tonraq made his way to the lounge everyone was using as their base of operations and he rung the bell that Asami had left out for if anyone needed to get the attention of the group. "pardon me for interrupting, but I've just had a phone call from the Northern Water Tribe. Chiefs Eska and Desna are both dead"

There were gasps before Lin walked up to Tonraq and put her hand on his shoulder, "it was her, wasn't it?"

"Yes" Tonraq nodded

"Alright, people" Lin commanded, "we need to work out how to protect this mansion from the woman" she looked at Tonraq, who nodded slightly, "her name is Kylia and she's believed to be a multiple bender"

"Like Korra?" Bolin grunted

"Yes, like Korra" _too much like Korra_

"how do we stop someone that can bend all four elements? There isn't a cage that could hold her nor a weapon that could stop her" Suyin asked

"Shirshu" Lin replied, remembering how quickly it had worked on Korra in Zaofu

"so assuming we get her with shirshu poison, then what?"

"I don't know..." Tonraq muttered

"Asami would probably have some crazy brilliant idea about how to stop her right about now" Suyin muttered

"well they're both out at... Mako's grave" Kuvira sighed, Opal was sitting in her lap as she always used to and Kuvira was doing her hair

"all this death" a voice echoed

"Jinora!" Kya exclaimed

"hi, aunt Kya" the blue spectral figure replied, "what's happening?"

"Eska and Desna have joined the list of the deceased" she replied

"shit" Jinora muttered

"Jinora" Tonraq stood up, "do you think you could do that astral projection thing and find out where she's going?"

"I wouldn't be able to, I don't know who she is"

"i do" Tonraq braced himself, "she's Korra's long lost twin sister"

"What?!" Kuvira exclaimed, standing up

"Hey!" Opal shrieked in surprise before she cushioned her landing with airbending, she looked horrified and scared

"oh spirits..." Suyin muttered before she fell back on to the couch she had been sitting on

Wing and Wei looked at each other, "so it wasn't just some lookalike then?"

"no, I'm afraid not"

"This is awesome...ly not good for us..." Bolin muttered

For once in his life, Bumi was completely silent.

"I'm on my way over" Jinora exclaimed

"Bring Tenzin with you" Kya added but Jinora had already disappeared

*

Ten minutes later there was a knock on the main door and one of the butlers showed Jinora in to the room, dragging an exhausted but wide awake Tenzin as well as Kai behind her. "we're here" Jinora announced

"Jinora told me that you'd found a lead on who killed my mom?"

"Yes," Tonraq began, "it was a woman called Kylia"

"who's... Kylia?" Tenzin began

"Korra's long lost twin"

"i... I... I... Can't believe it" Tenzin muttered

"oh no" Kai muttered, "we're screwed"

*

Unbeknownst to everyone except Kai, Toph and Lin, Korra and Asami had walked through the door. Asami had facepalmed subtly and Korra was standing there, breathing heavily. "what?" she hissed, beyond enraged

"Korra!" Senna gasped

"what?! I... I... Have a TWIN?!" Korra yelled the last word at the top of her voice

"shit..." Kai, Jinora, Wing, Wei, Toph and Su did a runner, pushing Bolin along with them

"I HAVE A TWIN AND NOBODY FUCKING TOLD ME?!" Korra bellowed, using airbending to enhance her voice

"Yes, sweetie" Senna whispered, her eyes gleaming with tears

"YOU DIDN'T FUCKING TELL ME I HAVE A FUCKING TWIN?!?" Korra roared over her mother's voice, "what the fuck?!"

"Korra..." Senna had tears running down her face, "i didn't want you to go through the trauma"

Korra turned her back on her mother, still breathing deeply, trying to control her anger. " You betrayed my trust!" Korra's voice was imbibed with the voice of Raava. Her eyes began to glow and she began to float. "you betrayed me...!"

"Korra!" Tenzin called

"Korra!!" Asami cried, Korra's eyes snapped around to Asami while she was in the middle of summoning a fire blast to throw, the fire still danced around the tops of her fingers and there was a hurricane force gale blowing around the room. Everyone left in the room except Senna, Korra and Asami were clinging on to the rock pillars Kuvira had bent. "Korra...! Don't do this!" Asami called and Korra was distracted for long enough for Senna to flee the room, Kuvira pushed her out of the room and into the hallway

"run" she whispered before there was a huge splintering and crashing, Senna rushed off without a second glance and Kuvira turned back to the room, she held her arms out and what was left of the roof was saved from collapsing. Kuvira's eyes went wide when she saw the amount of damage Korra had wreaked on the house in less than the time she had been pushing Senna away, which was about a second, maybe two. The entire wall of the gigantic lounge was completely destroyed and half the ceiling had been torn away as well as the majority of the rooms on either side and the rooms directly above those rooms. "you've gotta be shitting me..." Kuvira muttered before she was joined by Toph

"Kuvira" she nodded and raised her arms. Pillars big enough to support the house shot out of the ground and took the strain of what was left of the second floor, as well as the roof and all the damaged walls. "you can relax now, Kuvira" Toph smiled slightly, she was proud of this kid for doing what was right. After all those months of 'giving metalbenders a bad name' she had finally seen the light and was helping courageously

"Thank you, Toph" Kuvira relaxed and slumped slightly

"Wonder where that avatar has got to?" Toph muttered. Kuvira stomped her foot and as she had expected, she couldn't 'see' Korra anywhere

"shit!!" Kuvira exclaimed


	17. Two Paths Cross

Asami watched in disbelief as Korra tore off, she flew away unsupported and despite all her yelling, Korra didn't even look back.

"Well, fuck" Tonraq growled when he saw Korra shoot off into the distance, the glowing recognisable even at that distance

"huh?" Bolin turned but he was too late to see her shoot off, he did see an airplane take off in pursuit however. "what's going on?"

"Korra's fleeing"

"No..." Bolin and Tonraq shared a moment of silence, both were scared for her safety, what if she ran in to her murderous mirror image without knowing what she was going up against?

*

Korra flew over the land of the Earth Kingdom that Aang had once faced Fire Lord Ozai on, smashing her way through the pillars that remained after the destructive battle of good versus evil, she didn't even care one bit about the people who fled the falling boulders beneath her. "fuck her!" Korra seethed. After hours of flying in the avatar state, Korra eventually landed gracefully on an island she had been to once before, she fell to her knees and started to cry. Everything she had thought was the truth has proven to be false. She had a twin, and her parents hadn't even considered it important enough to tell her, they even hid her self-harm from her. She wondered how she had been separated from her twin and she wondered why the truth had come out after all these years. She now knew her parents had been hiding a lot from her and she felt she could no longer trust them, she had always been a daddy's girl but now even that hung in the balance. "how could they do this!?" Korra screamed in to the night. She felt herself weaken and fall out of the avatar state, she had been in it for hours and her body needed rest. She desperately wanted to talk to Aang to see if any of the other avatars had gone through something similar, but she wasn't even able to do that. She was completely alone in her despair and fear. She curled up on the beach she had landed on and shivered, the fear coursing through her veins. she had never been alone like this before, sure, she had felt alone when she had been poisoned, but even then a small part of her had known that her parents and friends were beside her, now, she felt completely alone. Her sobs tripled in intensity when she realised she had left Asami behind, or worse, hurt her in her rage, she hadn't even looked back to see if Asami was alright after she blew the walls of her mansion apart with a combination of airbending and earthbending. "what did I do?" she sobbed uncontrollably. "Mako's gone, so is Katara, Eska and Desna. Bolin, Wing, Wei, Su and possibly Asami or Lin have been injured and what the fuck am I doing?! Hiding out here on a fucking beach of a random fucking island in the fucking Fire Nation!!" she screamed at the top of her voice for a whole minute before she coughed, her body forcing her to stop her screaming. "i wish I could change this..." Korra sighed before the crying began anew. "after everything, after Amon, Unalaq, Vaatu, Zaheer, Kuvira and Tokuga, not to mention that ghastly Shadow self that haunted me for years, I'm still plagued by pain and suffering! I just want to enjoy my life now!!" she screamed again, the pain she felt in her chest helped her concentrate. "i want to see my kids again! I want to be happy with Asami and I want this whole shitty fucking thing to fuck off! After everything, I'm used to people hating me or wanting to kill me, but I never thought that the person who wanted to kill me would be my own sister I never even knew I had!!" Korra screamed again and again while rocking backwards and forwards in an effort to soothe herself, crying the whole while

*

*

"what have we here?" Kylia muttered to herself, she had heard the screams of anguish and decided to investigate for herself. She dropped down on to the sand and rolled to lessen the impact. She could feel no heat or anything other than the shivering, screaming woman so she approached cautiously, the slavery incident still fresh in her mind

"who's there?!" the woman croaked. Kylia debated making her presence known for a few precious moments before she decided she would.

"Hey, hey" she stepped out from behind the rock and sat next to the woman. "it's otay" she soothed and took the other woman's head and rested it on her shoulder

"w... What are you doing out this late?" Korra asked

"could ask the same of you" Kylia replied

"true..."

"so what were you screaming about, if you feel able to talk to me, you don't have to tell me your name even, or make one up if you want"

Korra lifted her head and looked at the girl who's face was completely hidden in the darkness, it was a new moon so there was absolutely no light except from the stars which weren't bright enough to show the mysterious woman's face. "my parents betrayed me... They've been hiding something from me for my whole life and I only learnt it earlier today, so I ran away... To here, I've probably been here a good few hours now"

"oh, I'm so sorry" Kylia gently hugged Korra. "I didn't know my parents that well but I think they had hidden things from me too.

"It's awful" Korra admitted in a rare show of vulnerability

"Yes. It is" Kylia nodded and hugged Korra again, she looked around at a sudden noise but relaxed when she sensed it was just a rock falling

"you're jumpy" Korra observed

"yeah well I had a bit of a problem with a few slavers a number of days ago"

"Slavers?!" Korra coughed in horror

"Yeah... Frankly they were a pretty unpleasant bunch, as you'd expect of people who abuse others for profit" Kylia spat into the sand

"I never even knew..."

"not many people do...? Uh sorry it'd be a lot easier if I had something I could call you, would you mind if I made up a name for you?"

Korra shrugged, "uh I guess?"

"well you're pretty athletic, and you certainly seem to be quite warm so I'd say Atatakaisekitan, or warm coal, but that's quite a handful"

"i quite like it" Korra sighed and put her head back on Kylia's shoulder

"Atatakaisekitan it is, I'm Cupunko"

"Cupunko? Water tribe?"

"you got a problem with that, Coal Girl?"

"nope"

"Just wish I could see you for real"

"what do you mean?"

"I'm blind"

"oh..." Korra sighed sadly, "don't worry too much, it's too dark and I'm too tired to do anything except from borrow your shoulder as my pillow"

"Otay" Kylia laughed softly and hugged Korra

"I don't know what to do?"

"You ought to do what your heart is telling you"

"my parents lied to me"

"was it a big lie?" Kylia was pretty sure she went bright red, "stupid question, sorry" she blurted out quickly

"Yes. They lied to me about me being an only child, for twenty seven years"

"oh my"

"i never knew my twin and I'm pretty sure I never will, I think she's dead"

"oh Atatakaisekitan!" Kylia exclaimed and hugged Korra even tighter, "it's perfectly alright to be angry and it's even perfectly alright if you don't forgive them for a long while, just promise me you'll try"

"what about you?" Korra had nodded her reply to Kylia, feeling so much better now that her anger seemed reasonable to another person

"I think I was adopted, so I never knew my real family" Kylia sighed sadly and the tears that had been threatening to fall for days finally escaped. "my adoptive parents died, so I'll never be able to tell them that I forgive them for lying when I do finally forgive them... That's why I asked you to forgive your parents, Coal Girl"

"I'm so sorry, Cupunko" Korra and Kylia cried while hugging each other for warmth and comfort for a few hours before they heard the clattering of a plane overhead

"I've gotta go..." Kylia whispered regretfully, her hands slowly moved down Korra's arm from where she had placed them on her shoulders and towards her hands, she paused when she felt the slight lumps on Korra's arms. "oh Atatakaisekitan..." she cried and a few more tears flowed out of her ruined eyes, "i hope you find happiness Coal Girl and that you will never feel the urge to do that again" she gripped Korra's hands briefly before she stood

"Don't go"

"that might be the Slavers" Kylia whispered before she hurried off

"Good luck..." Korra whispered before she broke down in tears again wishing her new friend hadn't had to go

*

*

"Korra!!" a slightly panicky voice called

"Korra!!" another, louder voice called

Korra sighed, _they found me_. She tried to stand up but her legs weren't cooperating so she took a deep breath and called back, "I'm over here!" she croaked _and they scared my friend away_

"Korra" Korra found herself in a bone crushing hug all of a sudden. The scent was unmistakably a mix of Asami's perfume and shampoo

"Asami" Korra croaked

"Oh Korra... We were so worried" Asami buried her head in the other girl's chest, fearful that she'd fly off again

"oh thank the spirits" Lin ran over and hugged both of them tightly. "Korra you gave old aunt Lin the fright of her life"

"Sorry" Korra looked at them sheepishly

"Let's get a fire started, then we can talk"

"right" Asami and Lin quickly built a fire before they sat down around Korra. "Korra..." Lin began

"I know I'm sorry I shouldn't have run"

"That wasn't what I was going to say?"

"oh?"

"i was going to say I love you Korra, as an aunt"

"mother" Korra corrected without hesitation

"Korra..."

"No, Lin. At the moment she's not my mother"

Lin looked distraught. "Korra..."

"please, Lin let me deal with this my way"

"Alright, Kor"

"thanks, mom"

Asami snuggled close to Korra while Lin was putting more wood on the fire, "you're cold, babe"

"Hhhhhadn'tttt rrrrrreally nnnoticed" Korra's teeth chattered and she was shivering badly

Both Asami and Lin wrapped Korra up in their arms and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry, Korra"

"Wait... You knew?" Korra whispered in a tiny voice

"Yes." Lin sighed, "we knew about both things, I've always known about one but I only learnt about the other when you woke up screaming. I observed your parents, sorry, Senna and Tonraq's actions and knew something was being hidden from you"

"Kor" Asami whispered regretfully

"They made you swear not to tell me, didn't they?"

"well, yes"

"tell me"

"are you sure, Korra?"

"Tell me. I have a right to know"

"Can't argue with you there, kid" Lin smirked before she became serious once again, "i had always known you had tried to kill yourself, Kor, since I was the one to find you, save you and rush you to the hospital. I must say I had doubts about Senna and Tonraq's decision to hide it from you but I admit I could see the wisdom in their words. You have been through more than your fair share" Lin adjusted her arms around Korra before she continued, "i found you in that cave and rushed you back to the healing huts. Had I not bent the iron in your blood you would've died, you lost a few bits of finger and a few toes as it is. Only me, Senna, Tonraq, Kya and Katara knew the truth, not even Asami knew about it, at least until you passed out and woke in the healing bath"

"and they made you swear not to tell me, right?"

"yes" Asami sighed

"fuck them. Both of them" Korra spat

"I'm sorry, Kor" Asami sighed, tears running down her face

"and what about this twin of mine? What was her name?"

"Kylia... And Korra, she's not dead"

"WHAT?!" Korra exclaimed, "then where is she, let's go see her and bring her home!"

"I'm sorry, Kor that's gonna be difficult."

"what in the name of the spirits are you talking about?!"

"Kor, we believe she's the one that's been going around killing people" there was a deadly silence while Korra processed this

"why?"

"we have reason to believe she was kidnapped from Senna and Tonraq's home by the Red Lotus"

"fuckers"

"and those two Red Lotus people raised her"

"Who were they"

"Ming-Hua and Ghazan"

"Great, I can't even kill them or punish them"

"Kor, she's been responsible for every death and injury that's happened to all our friends and allies" Asami soothed

"Katara? Eska? Desna? Mako? The White Lotus? The Zaofu guards? Bolin? Wing? Wei? Su?"

"all of the above"

"Shit..." Korra scowled, "they took my sister and brainwashed her"

"Yes, they did" Lin agreed with a snarl. "she needs to be stopped"

"of course she does, but I don't want to kill her...!"

"There may be no other way, see no chains will be able to stop her, no ice prison nor volcano prison, no kind of containment could ever stop her"

"What?"

"She's a multiple bender, like you"

"Like me?"

"she's shown herself to be able to control fire, water, air and earth, as well as be proficient at seismic sense, bloodbending, metalbending and healing. She's even invented a few new subskills of her own, such as bonebending and aqua sense, the waterbender's equivalent to seismic sense. All of that and she punched through Zaofu's platinum domes in no time at all"

"How do you know she's proficient at seismic sense and this 'aqua sense'?"

"she's blind, she tore her own eyes out"

"No..." Korra sighed sadly wishing her new friend was there too, she was blind, she would understand what Kylia's weaknesses were

"Korra..." Asami sighed, "we have no idea where Kylia is, but wherever she is she's probably killing"

"I want to go and stop her"

"Korra, it's you she wants"

"Me?"

"Yes, you" Lin sighed and hugged Korra tightly

"this is so messed up" Korra admitted

"she doesn't even know the Avatar is her twin" Asami whispered, "she'd kill you on sight"

"and how can she bend all the elements, Raava is inside you, Kor"

"I know"

*

There was a pause before Korra's eyes began to glow. "over the millennia I've been bonded to the Avatar, they have changed. They no longer require me to hold the elements they have not mastered as Wan once did, they are able to do it themselves. When a previous avatar dies I split myself up into trillions of little pieces and find the next avatar, I find them while they're still a one or two celled embryo and bond with them. They are changed from that moment on. Since identical twins are identical in every single way, both twins would experience the change even though I am only able to bond to one" Raava explained, using Korra's mouth as her own. "there have been a few sporadic cases where I've bonded to a twin but this is the first time the twin has survived"

"fuck" Lin sighed and pulled Korra into a hug where she stayed for several hours, crying at everything. She cried for her lost twin, she cried for her twin's lost childhood, she cried for her twin's lost humanity and she cried for her twin who may not ever know what it's like to be loved and what it's like to not go around murdering people.

"it's so heartbreaking" Korra admitted after hours of crying

"I know, Korra" Lin picked her up in her reassuringly strong arms and carried her to the waiting plane. "let's go home"

"I don't want to, _they_ will be there" Korra paused, "all I wanted when I was younger was to be the avatar, those two got in my way more times than I could count, but now... Now I'd like a break from all the despair death and destruction that comes with this job"

"otay, Korra, where should we go?"

"Ba Sing Se, just for a little while"

"fine, Korra" Lin clearly had concerns about running away to Ba Sing Se, but she also knew that Korra needed this distance from Senna and Tonraq

*

*

Kylia thought back to her new friend she had met on the beach, missing her already. _I miss you, Coal Girl_. She sat down and covered her face with her hand, that poor girl had been through so much. She decided to return to the beach and see if she was still there, she did so but there was no sign she had ever been there other than an indent where she had been sitting. "good luck, Coal Girl" she whispered and she sat down on the beach where her new friend had been sat. She shivered and felt herself shift, she raised her head and realised that she could see... What she saw sent a shiver down her spine, she had been here before, in this very cave and as if on cue, the intense pain in her arms started as it had before... "not again" Kylia groaned but was unable to stop the vision from continuing...

A/N: Korra and Kylia!!:)


	18. Ba Sing Se

Korra, Lin and Asami landed at Ba sing Se's main airport a day after they had left the Fire Nation. Having covered hundreds of miles they were sore, irritable and exhausted. "please don't touch my plane!" Asami snapped at a few airport employees who went to move it

"'Sami, can we find somewhere to stay?" Korra pleaded

"calm down, Korra" Lin sighed

"I'm tired and hungry!" Korra growled nearly as loudly as her stomach

"that fucking stomach of yours!" Asami exclaimed, "if I didn't have Future Industries, you and that stomach would've bankrupted me by now!" Asami complained overly loudly. Korra pouted before her eyes became all bleary and watery. "oh Korra! I'm so sorry!" Asami gasped when Korra didn't reply back and she had turned to face Korra only to be completely shocked when she saw Korra on the verge of crying

"I'm fine, 'Sami, and it's alright, don't worry about it"

"It's not alright, I'm so so sorry, Korra!" she ran forward even though Korra was only a few steps away from her and threw her arms around the girl she loved. "I'm so sorry sweetie I should've realised you are feeling vulnerable right now" Asami kissed her forehead

*

"Let's go find a hotel to stay in" Lin suggested, she led the way to the nearby train and, after glaring at the ticket man for a few moments, she led them on to the train, they sat down quickly and enjoyed the ride to the Middle Ring where they quickly found a nice hotel that they could stay in for a while

"it's nice here" Korra commented when she flopped down on the bed in Korra and Asami's room in their shared suite. "it's nice to be away from everything... From the expectations of others, from all those people who want something..."

"from Raiko" Lin interrupted much to the amusement of the other two, she had walked from her room on the other side of the shared hallway and into their room without knocking since their door was open

"yup, away from all those people who want to hurt or kill those I care about, far away from my murderous sister" she stopped and new tears ran down her face, "and away from those who lied to me" she had stopped crying and was glaring furiously

"i know, Korra" Lin sat next to her and hugged her tightly, "i am so, so, so sorry that I did not tell you the truth about what happened to you"

"I know you are, mom" Korra smiled at Lin who smiled back serenely

"I've never seen you look this content, Lin" Asami placed her hand on Lin's shoulder and Lin returned the gesture

"I've never felt this content" Lin smiled and kissed Korra's forehead, a gesture she repeated to Asami seconds later. "here, with you two, it's nice"

"aww, Lin" Asami went bright red but smiled

"it's alright, Asami"

"what is, Lin?"

"if you want to call me mom too"

Asami blinked once, opened her mouth before she closed it again. She was overwhelmed with emotions. "i... I don't know what to say, u... I'm speechless... T... Thank you" Asami burst into tears and hugged Lin tightly, thankful the older woman had removed her armour. "mom"

Lin teared up happily, "now you two, let's begin the healing process, together"

Asami cuddled up to Korra and held her tightly, "Korra... It's alright"

"Asami... I love you"

"i know"

"Mom, I love you"

"I know you do, Kor"

"A happy little family" Lin sighed contentedly and pulled both of the others backwards on to the bed before she grabbed a pillow and whacked Korra's leg with it

"Hey!" Korra yelped in surprise

Lin hit Korra again, "if you're not gonna defend yourselves..."

Asami grabbed a pillow and hit Lin in the chest. "i don't need to fight" Korra explained, "I've got a girlfriend who will fight for... Hey!" Asami had hit Korra in the side of the head with her pillow

"as mom said..."

"Game on..." Korra airbent a pillow to her and thwacked Asami in the shoulder with it before all pandemonium broke lose. Asami, Korra and Lin were giving it their all and hitting each other with the pillows as hard as they dared. Lin danced out of the way of several of Asami's swings and was hit in the back by one of Korra's blows, she stumbled forward, surprised before she span around and took Korra's leg out with the pillow. "hey! No fair! You filled that pillow with rocks!" Korra gasped from her back

"nope" Lin held it up and shook it, "you just don't like being beaten!"

"that does it!" Korra leapt back on to her feet and charged at Lin whacking her as she went past, Lin laughed before she returned the favour, lobbing the pillow at Korra and cheering when it hit her square in the face.

"crap" Lin muttered when she realised what she had done, a second later both Asami and Korra were on to her. They stood either side of her and whacked her repeatedly on each side

"you can't defend yourself!" Korra laughed with glee and whacked Lin again

"Poor tactical decision, mom!" Asami goaded

"Well, fuck me!" Korra laughed, she was about to continue but then she fell back when Asami jumped on her and tackled her to the bed

"Otay..." was all that Asami said

"really, Asami, right now?" Lin pouted much to the amusement of the other two

"aww... This one is such an adorable dork"

"Not as much as you're an adorable nerd"

They stood up and brushed themselves off before a knock at the door made them all turn. "you order room service?" Lin inquired

"Nope" Asami replied, Lin bent her armour back on before she walked to the suite entrance and opened the door

"Welcome to Ba Sing Se, Chief Beifong, Miss Sato and Avatar Korra"

"Shit..." Asami growled

"how did you know?"

"I make it my business to know who's staying in my hotel"

"well we don't want to be disturbed by any of that nonsense" Lin scowled

"I... Understand" the woman looked around Lin and saw the mess that the pillow fight had created. "you came here to unwind?"

"yup" Lin glared at the woman, "and you are not to tell anyone we're in town, understand?"

"Don't worry, I understand. My grandfather made it clear to me when I visited him recently, he told me I might have some very special guests to stay at my hotel and that they'd bring with them the entire weight of the world. They would come to Ba Sing Se to heal and relax and that I had a choice to either help or hinder them"

"Who is your grandfather, may I ask?" Korra asked, pretty sure she knew the answer before it was given

"General Iroh"

"the first?" Asami whispered

"The one and only"

"you must be Lu Ten's daughter?" Lin asked with wide eyes

"That I am" the woman confirmed

"How is that possible?"

"my father fell in love with one of the Earth Kingdom soldiers they had captured during the siege of Ba Sing Se and they secretly had... Me"

"wow" Asami breathed

"My mom never kept my true heritage secret from me even though she did keep it secret from everyone else" she paused, "i never knew how my mom was when my father was alive, but apparently she was noticeably different after my father died in that dreadful conflict although nobody except her knew the truth, and grandfather Iroh of course"

"Wow" was all Lin managed

"Anyway, I'll make sure you're not disturbed and that you get peace and quiet to finish... Whatever you were doing" she raised an eyebrow slightly, "pillow fight?"

"Yup" Lin replied without hesitation much to the surprise of Asami and Korra

"I'll make sure the chef knows to provide you with three meals a day, any more just contact the chef directly and if you need anything else just call this number, it'll put you through to my head of building services and they can help you with non-cooked food requests, transport, linen changes and... New pillows"

"thank you"

"call me Zu"

"Thank you, Zu"

The woman nodded and backed out, closing the doors behind her and leaving a 'do not disturb' sign with her signature on it on the door

"Friendly woman" Korra smiled, "yanno what I think I will take her up on her offer, I'm starving"

"Again, Korra?"

"Yup" Asami rung the kitchen and spoke briefly to the chef who promised he'd send some food up right away and, not even ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Lin opened it, took the trolley from the man who stood outside and wheeled it in front of Korra who tucked in immediately

"yum!!" Korra exclaimed and quickly devoured the three bowls of noodles that had been sent up for her


	19. The Spa

Korra, Asami and Lin had changed into simple Earth Kingdom clothing and Korra, as usual, wasn't wearing her hair in the traditional fashion as she had been only a few days before. Zu had gone out and got them their clothes before Lin tried to hand over some money to pay for the items, Zu had politely declined accepting the money and instead handed them coupons to visit a spa called the Fancy Lady Day Spa. Asami had been eager to go from the off but Korra took a little more persuasion. Lin, on the other hand asked if she could wear her armour. Korra had rolled her eyes at Asami before she sat down next to Lin, put her head on Lin's shoulder and looked up with wide round eyes that gleamed with excitement. "alright, you, you win" Lin had finally sighed and agreed

"We need a bit of a girl's day out" Asami smiled before she disappeared into her and Korra's bathroom. Her head popped out a second later, "Korra. Get in here. Now" Asami commanded, Korra tripped over Lin in her haste to get in to the bathroom leaving a giggling Chief of Police behind her.

Twenty minutes later the couple reappeared, Asami's hair in a towel and Korra's just a mess. "Have _fun_ , girls?"

"shut up, mom!" Korra pouted

"Mom, we're grown up now, we don't need to be lectured"

"Otay girls" Lin chuckled before she threw a pillow at them both. The pillow swung around their heads, shot around the room and hit Lin on the back of her head. "hey!" she grunted before she metalbent the cables at her hips and wrapped them both up before pulling them close enough for her to grab them and pull them into a hug. "you wanted to go to this spa place, so let's go"

"alrighty" Asami stood and led the way to the spa which was on the other side of the Middle Ring.

"fuck me, Asami, we should've taken the train"

"You can walk the distance"

"Yes, Icanwalk it, but whether Iwantto walk it is another matter"

Asami chuckled, "alright, all powerful _Avatar_ "

"Hey, this is supposed to be a mini holiday"

"yup"

"and my idea of a mini holiday doesn't include hours of walking, talking and making love, yes, maybe even a spa day and possibly sparring, but not walking"

"we could cut across the Upper Ring..."

"and risk bumping into Wu?" Korra gasped, "spirits no!" she added quickly although it was enough to shut her up

They made it to the spa half an hour later. "two stinking hours of walking" Korra grumbled to herself while Asami handed a receptionist the coupons they had got from Zu

"right this way, ladies" the bell boy led them to the back where there were spacious changing rooms, they quickly changed and soon after they found themselves in one of the deep and near boiling pools of water next to the saunas

"Ahhhhh" Asami sighed with contentment, "this is the life"

"i agree" Korra sighed, a hot bath was always her favourite way to relax

"This isn't so bad"

"Mom you always have to be a spoilsport" Korra commented

"I'm just glad she didn't wear her armour"

"True enough."

*

They sat in the hot water for several hours, chit chatting idly about unimportant things before they moved into the sauna. Asami and Lin looked at Korra in concern after they had finished in the sauna, taken a quick dip in the cold plunge pool to cool themselves down and returned to the hot pool. "what?" Korra scowled, "do I have a spiderfly in my hair?" she reached up to ruffle her hair

"No, Kor, you don't but..."

"But what?"

"Your arms..."

"and legs" Asami added

"What about them?" Korra muttered, she turned her arms and saw the massive inch wide twenty centimetre long scars that has began to reappear. "fuck me" Korra gasped in surprise and fear. She looked down at her legs and they were a similar story, long red marks that were permanently superimposed on her darkened skin. A lot of red marks.

"it must've been the intense heat and the steam" Asami whispered, her eyes brimming with unshed tears

"I... I... I..." Korra stuttered, tracing the massive scars on her arms with the opposite hand

"oh Korra..." Lin sighed

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh" Korra screamed a pained scream, keeled over to one side and her head sunk below the water. She didn't stay submerged for long though, Lin attempted to earthbend the bottom of the pool up higher than the waterline with a shout, the pool itself made a gigantic tearing sound as both the metal pipes below the pool and the pool floor itself were torn up. Korra rose out of the water atop the pillar of earth that had risen up from the ground two floors below, smashing their way through anything that got in the way. Bemused shouting could be heard from below.

"Korra! Korra!" Lin screamed and ran to her side. "shit! Shit! Shit!"

"What in the name of?!" a staff member yelled after bursting through the door

"fuck you!" Asami hissed, forestalling any complaints about what had happened to his employer's spa

"W... What can I do to help?" he had noticed Lin holding the unconscious woman gently in her arms

"In my armour pocket" Lin began, pointing at her armour, "there's a piece of paper, take it and call the number on it. Ask for someone called Opal and tell them there's been an... Incident" Lin flicked her wrist to open the aforementioned pocket

"Yes, Ma'am" the man sprung to attention before he ran out, Lin sighed her relief at having the wisdom to plan ahead

*

*

Senna and Tonraq sat in their darkened room, as they had done since their daughter had fled. They had remained sat still since that time and had only moved to go to the toilet. They had remained undisturbed since they had screamed 'go away' at someone who had approached their door but now that was shattered, someone had knocked on the door. "Senna? Tonraq?" I know you two are in there..." Kya's voice came across loud and clear. "you can either open the door, or I'll knock it down" there was no stopping Kya now

"fine, I'll get it" Tonraq sighed. "coming!" he growled

"about damn tim..." Kya stopped, she eyed the married couple with her trained eye and knew immediately that it was bad. They hadn't been screaming but they had been arguing, quietly with a lack of conviction on either side. They didn't know what had happened or how best to handle it. They were totally lost and unsure of what to do. "Senna... Tonraq..." Kya whispered, "how long have you been sitting their immobile?"

Tonraq knew immediately that was Kya's kind way of saying 'Senna, Tonraq you look a fucking mess'. "S... Since she disappeared..." he grunted. But not one of them knew where Korra had gone nor even if Asami and Lin had found her yet. There was still a massive search going on in Republic City and the surrounding areas, they had even reached out to the other nations to ask them to keep an eye out for Korra, although because of the current Kylia problem they had to remain deliberately vague and could only contact the world leaders on Asami's recently implemented 'encrypted calling' system. Kya and Opal alone knew roughly where the trio were but they knew that they didn't want to be disturbed and that Korra needed her space.

"have a fucking shower you two, then we will talk" it was not a request, it was an instruction.

Senna and Tonraq nodded before they trudged off, looking utterly defeated. Twenty minutes later both had showed and changed but neither of them felt any better for it. "What do you want?" Senna spat

"to help you" Kya replied calmly

"Help us? HELP US?" Senna's voice was one of hysteria. "get out there and hunt for our daughter!"

"Senna, you know Korra won't be found until she's ready to be found"

"fuck you, Kya" Senna muttered

"Senna..." Tonraq muttered, "she's only trying to help"

"Only trying to help?! Fuck's sake, Tonraq. We nearly lost our daughter five times in the past nine years!" Senna hissed, "one... After Amon... Remember she went to that ledge? Two... Unalaq... He tore Raava right out of her and nearly corrupted her soul while the whole of Republic City were watching, remember? Three... ZAHEER! She nearly died in your fucking arms, Tonraq!" Senna was not quite yelling now, her voice was raised and quite loud but still not loud enough to be heard downstairs where the others were. "FOUR, KUVIRA! The spirit weapon she used to deliberately attempt to murder Korra several times, AND FIVE!" she really was screaming at the top of her lungs now, "THE SUICIDE ATTEMPT!!" she shoved Tonraq away, "do you not care for her at all?! She's your own daughter"

Tonraq looked close to tears and angrier than Kya had ever seen him, angrier even then when the White Lotus has announced the idea to keep Korra isolated in the compound. "Senna... If you can't fucking see that I care about Korra... What the fuck's got into you?!" Tonraq tore at his own hair and for a second he looked quite deranged. "of course I fucking care about her! She nearly died in my arms remember and if you had any inkling of how THAT felt, you wouldn't ever question my love for Korra again!"

"Senna... Tonraq..." Kya began

"No, Kya! Shut up! Tonraq could've gone out searching for her but he's as immobile as me!"

"i was actually going to say you're both doing well"

"We're just shouting?"

"exactly. You're letting all of your repressed emotions out"

"Doesn't feel good" Tonraq muttered

"I know, Tonraq, but it's the first step to acceptance. The first step to forgiveness"

"forgiveness?"

"Forgiveness for yourselves... What you did all those years ago, I don't know whether it was right or wrong, and frankly I don't have the right to say but what's done is done, however I know your hearts were in the right place. You wanted to protect Korra"

"yes" Tonraq nodded.

"then Korra will accept what happened and you'll all begin to heal, one day"

"If you say so" Senna was too tired to argue

"oh and you two?" Senna and Tonraq looked into Kya's warm caring forgiving eyes

"yes?"

"Try to stop seeing Asami as Kylia's replacement"

Senna and Tonraq were gobsmacked, "w... Well... Uh... Oh..." Tonraq sighed, he turned to Senna and whispered, "she's right"

"i know"

They were interrupted by a frantic knocking on the door, Kya opened the door and Opal was standing there, obviously very distressed about... Something. She and Kya had a quick talk before they ran off in a great hurry. "what was that about?" Tonraq muttered. He was very sharp and had guessed correctly that Lin had contacted Kya and told her where they were going. He kept it to himself though and told nobody of his suspicions because he loved his daughters more than anything or anyone else. He knew they needed time to heal. He did however worry about what had got Opal into that state, she was red eyed and shaking

*

"fill me in..." Kya hissed quietly to Opal as they ran down the corridors towards the area out back where they were keeping their various bison, neither had a wish to be overhead.

"Korra's had another episode, she passed out in water and breathed in a bit before Lin could get her out, she apparently ruined three rooms in the spa to do so" Opal chuckled slightly, trust her aunt Lin to save Korra's life, again, but do the maximum possible damage while doing so. "Korra's scars have also started to show, Lin thinks that's what triggered the flashback. Korra's in hospital in Ba Sing Se but of course you're the first person Lin wanted to contact and not just because of your healing..."

"thank you, Opal" Kya smiled genuinely

"take Juicy" Opal smiled, "he'll get you there faster than a Satomobile and not be as obvious as a missing airship or plane"

Kya nodded and jumped on to Juicy, she took off and began to fly towards the capital of the Earth Kingdom as fast as she dared, not wanting to kill Opal's bison from exhaustion, at least not before they got close. Opal meanwhile returned to her room and attempted to calm herself


	20. Aftermath of the Flashback

Korra sighed and curled into the warm bedsheets covering her, at least until she remembered what had happened. "fuck!" she exclaimed and sat bolt upright

"Korra..." Lin breathed in relief, she collapsed back into her chair by Korra's bed, completely devoid of energy

"Korra!" Asami had entered and shut the door before she spoke. She ran up to Korra and hugged her tightly

"doctor Yi" a familiar voice called outside the door

"Yes?" another one replied

"she's slowly getting better"

"Yes, but about the scars"

"what about them?"

"They look to be self-inflicted"

"what of it?"

"uh... She's needs help"

"She has two mothers who love her dearly and a loving wonderful girlfriend so she has all the support she needs" the familiar voice declared firmly. Asami shivered in response to the woman's claim. "you have my word as a healer."

The doctor seemed to be silent for a few minutes until a grunt of discomfort echoed through the door. "can see why you like her, mom" Asami grinned at Lin

"She is something special, and dangerous"

"Are we talking about... But, how? When?"

"Yes, Korra, Kya arrived several hours after your collapse. She came straight here, poor old Juicy, or at least I think it was Juicy, was totally exhausted" Lin turned her nose up at the bison's name, Opal never had managed to get the creature's smell under control. "Kya" Lin's heart fluttered slightly

Kya waited until the door was fully shut again before she spoke. "sweetie" she pulled her hands down through Lin's hair for a second before turning to Korra. "don't worry, Korra, everything is alright. You had an episode of flashback from your suicide attempt"

"I know... I remember"

"me and that _good_ _doctor_ "Kya sneered slightly "were just discussing your needs"

"And?"

"he wanted to keep you here for observation but i... Uh... Persuaded him otherwise"

Korra shivered. "and?"

"you're free to leave, you're not in any physical danger. They had to extract the little bit of water that you breathed in and have kept you under observation for long enough for them to be satisfied that you'll be safe enough with a waterbender nearby. You are also still anonymous, Lin and Asami were very careful not to use your name, as was I"

Korra grinned gratefully at them, she knew she wasn't really in a fit state to face Kylia, neither did she want to face Senna and Tonraq just yet. "thank you" she whispered, hoping the words would convey the depth of her gratitude

"anything for you" Lin whispered

Korra blushed, "thanks, mom"

"well while you get dressed I'll go call Opal, she's probably worried sick"

"right" Korra nodded and while Lin turned away, Asami moved forward to help Korra get dressed. "mom, I am wearing underwear"

"Thank spirits for that" Lin sighed but got Korra's meaning. She turned back around and tried to avoid looking at the scars, something that Korra was also trying to do

"Babe" Asami began

"yes?"

Asami looked nervous, "now's as good as time as any..."

"To do what?"

"To begin to heal" Asami moved her top up and Lin saw the scar on her back

"what... What's that?" Lin gasped in shock. Korra, of course, knew it was there and had some suspicion about what it was from but hadn't ever asked, what she hadn't noticed were the incredibly faint scars on Asami's arms, at least until Asami put them right under her nose

"Mom, this scar's from the firebender who killed my mother" she indicated the one on her back, Kya gasped, she has just returned from her brief call to Opal and Lin was clearly seething. "babe, mom, Kya" Asami continued stallingly, "these scars are from my own self-harm. When I was a teenager, and again after my... My dad tried to kill me" Asami choked back a sob and Korra, Lin and Kya moved in protectively. "he never knew" Asami finished

Lin was clearly seething about what had happened with the firebender, "if only I had known..." she growled

"i hid it from everyone" Asami replied calmly, "after my mom was burned alive, my back didn't seem too important"

"Asami" Lin sighed, to Asami's shock there was a tear running down her cheek. "you are so considerate and so selfless, even at that young age... But I still wish you'd told someone so you could've got it healed and I could've beaten that shitbag to a pulp" Lin glared at the wall, Asami and Korra shared a look with Kya

"that guy is gonna regret it" was all Kya was willing to say on the matter

With Asami's revelation and with encouraging nods from her new family she lifted her arms and took a long hard look at her scars. "oh wow" was all she said before she gently explored them with her fingers. They were now fully exposed, whatever Kya, Tonraq and Senna had applied had worn off completely and Korra's first thought was that they were quite impressive. Her second thought was one of pain. The wounds that the scars represented were, from the length and width of them, as well as the height of which they protruded, almost certain to be fatal. Korra then lifted her top up a little and saw the scars on her legs. These weren't as large as the ones on her arms but were still pretty sizable. "I should be dead, shouldn't I?" Korra heard a note of horror enter her voice. Her fingers found the scar tissue on her neck

"Yes, Korra" Lin replied sadly, "fortunately the universe had different ideas. It was the cold that saved you, even though it cost you a few toes and a couple of bits of finger"

"I'm so sorry" Korra hugged Asami and Lin tightly, she also reached out to Kya who wrapped her up in her own arms. "let's get out of here" Korra muttered while fighting a losing battle with her tears, Asami nodded, took her hand and led her to a waiting taxi. They clambered in, gave the address and were taken back to their hotel

"Thank the spirits for that" Kya breathed. "I've gotta go call Opal again, tell her everything is fine"

"Uh huh"

*

*

"hello?"

"Opal, it's Kya"

"Kya...! Is everything otay?"

"yes, we're all fine"

"oh thank fuck for that" Opal had breathed quietly, aware that Jinora had been passing by at the time

"well I'd better get back to them even though they're all alright"

"Thank you"

"You're welcome, Opal"

Opal sat back and choked back a sob, _she's alright_ Opal thought, she had been a mess of nerves since she had heard that Korra had had another episode. Gradually, Opal's breathing eased and she began to smile

*

*

The taxi returned to their hotel and they all hopped out and went inside. "ladies" Zu nodded at them and eyed Kya for a few seconds

"Zu" Lin smiled slightly

"Exploded any more pillows?" Zu asked with a lopsided grin

"No, my daughter had a bit of a bad experience"

"I'm sorry, I saw you leave earlier with the coupons I got for you and I was wondering why you hadn't returned, the spa closed nearly six hours ago"

"Spirits is that the time?" Kya groaned

"Yup" sure enough it was two in the morning

"Shit" Korra muttered and nervously fingered her scars gently

"Woah..." Zu whispered and she moved forward, "no wonder you needed to get away." Zu had seen Korra's scars but quickly averted her eyes

"yeah..." Lin muttered, looking around to ensure they were alone

"Don't worry they've all been in bed for several hours now"

"But you stayed up?"

"yes, I wanted to make sure you three... Uh, four? Got back alright"

"Thank you, Zu"

Zu turned to Korra, "flashbacks ?" she asked to which Korra just nodded weakly. "oh I'm so sorry, Korra" Zu took Korra's hand and squeezed it while she gently touched the scar on her left arm

"thank you, Zu" Korra whispered

"you're welcome, Korra, go to bed and relax"

Lin nodded and gently guided Korra back to their suite. "I'm fine, mom" Korra whispered

"What a load of bullfrog crap"

"Fine!" Korra snapped, she turned to Lin and glared at her, "I'm got otay! I haven't been otay really for eight damn years!! Longer if you include Amon and being torn from my parents by the White Lotus low lifes!"

"Korra... Let it all out"

"All I've ever wanted to be was the Avatar!! All I ever wanted to do was save the world and fight for balance and good!" Korra sighed, "when I was younger, that was before I was stripped of my bending by Amon, before my past lives were destroyed by Vaatu and my own uncle, before I WAS CRIPPLED BY A MAD AIRBENDER!!"

"Korra... You're not a cripple"

"oh I'm not?! I'm reduced to a quivering ball of shaking muscle, IF I'M LUCKY. If I'm not the flashbacks knock me out! I have huge scars up the entire length of my lower arms that stick out far enough to not be able to conceal! I have horrific nightmares still about Amon, Unalaq, Kuvira, Vaatu, Zaheer, that Shadow self and about my suicide attempt!! Asami, accept it, I'm a fucking mess"

"you might be a mess, Korra, but you're MY mess and I love you beyond anything else!!"

"What did I do to deserve you?" Korra asked weakly

"what you did? Be Korra. That's what you did and that's why I love you. I fell in love with who you are!!"

"Asami..." Korra held out her arms and whispered her name. Asami immediately moved forward and wrapped her arms around Korra. Asami held Korra while she wept for four hours, Lin and Kya sat either side of her and whispered soothingly to their daughter. Eventually the tears ran out but Asami kept hold of Korra even then. She, Lin and Kya stayed up all night, gently soothing Korra even after she fell asleep in Asami's arms

"I love you" was all Asami whispered all night, over and over, every few minutes she said it again and although she knew Korra was sleeping, she also knew Korra would still hear her. "i love you"

*

*

"Opal! There you are!" Suyin's voice conveyed worry

"What's up, mom?" Opal asked innocently

"You've been missing for hours, it's not like you to hide yourself away in your room"

"Oh?" Opal turned to her mother and put on her biggest smile _if I'm gonna convince her everything's fine, I'll have to work hard_. "mom, quit worrying"

"are you alright? Senna told me that you were really upset earlier"

"wouldn't set store in what Senna said earlier, she could hardly see cos her eyes were so red and sore from all the crying"

"Hmmm..." Suyin pondered for a moment, "well if anything is bothering you, please tell me!"

"I will do" Opal walked away back towards Kuvira's cell, _phew_ she thought before she sat outside Kuvira's cell and whispered to get her attention, "Kuv"

"Yeah?" Kuvira came out into the light, "O, you're shaking"

"Am I?"

"Is Korra alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know that girl has issues, and I also am pretty sure you know where she is... Only your friends being in danger could upset you like that so..."

Opal sighed, "Kuv"

"don't worry, my lips are sealed. I'm just glad Kya, Lin and Asami found her and that Senna and Tonraq don't know where she is... She needs her space"

"You won't tell them?"

"nope. Besides I don't actually know where they are so what would be the point?"

"Thank you, Kuv"

Senna and Tonraq passed the two women and nodded at them, they were still bleary eyed but they looked better after their shower. They had finally realised that they would be needed to help prepare for the inevitable confrontation with Kylia so had dragged themselves back into reality to help prepare for their probable deaths


	21. Royal Palace

Kylia hid herself in the mountain, having covered herself with rocks. The two Royal Guards and the High Admiral they were protecting walked right past her and into her trap. Kylia smiled calmly, the rocks shot off of her and crushed the two guard against the opposite wall. She stepped out of her hiding place, the rest of the rocks falling at her feet. "you!" Kylia took a step towards the Admiral, "tell me how I get out of this rabaroo warren and get to the Royal Palace?"

"get screwed" the admiral growled

"no thanks" Kylia hissed, she formed a large spike out of magma and thrust it through his gut.

"aargh!" he coughed and blood splattered across Kylia's face

"Are you ready to talk now?" Kylia flicked her finger and the blood flew off her face and splatted against the far wall

"Get fucked!"

"Thanks for the suggestion, but no" Kylia flicked her wrist again, the magma reformed and stabbed the man in the gut again, this time further below

"alright! Alright!" he shrieked. "follow this path to the big metal doors then... Well you won't get much further..."

"Thank you" Kylia smiled sweetly and sliced his head off. "asshole"

She walked calmly towards the door he mentioned, sealing a couple of guards in magma as she went. She broke down the door was a blast of fire and a massive boulder. "fuck, ought to learn how to platinumbend" she growled before stepping through the hole. The fire had weakened the door and the boulder had torn through it.

"who are you?" a guard yelled

Before Kylia could reply another voice called out, "Arjalinerk?"

 _Shit, Iroh!_ Kylia stepped out into the light, her hands coated in blood. "fancy meeting you here..."

"What... What are you doing, Arjalinerk?"

"getting my revenge, and my name's not Arjalinerk, it's Cupunko" she stood to one side when two guards stormed out, "Prince Iroh, have you seen a woman with a band over her eyes?"

Kylia stepped forward. "aww, how sweet, they were worried about me" she dodged a fireball and laughed coldly.

"What do you mean, getting your revenge?"

"Your grandfather trapped the only parents I've ever known... And later took then from me"

Iroh stepped forward, "it was YOU all along, wasn't it?"

"me?"

"YOU killed Mako, Eska, Desna, Katara, the White Lotus guards and three Zaofu guards?"

"Yes"

"and YOU were the one that injured Bolin, Su, Wing and Wei?"

"yes"

"then I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop you"

"you?" Kylia scoffed

"No, Iroh, me!"

"But... You're..." Iroh stuttered

Kylia smiled, "Hopefully you'll be more of a challenge than your peer was" Kylia did a close, but mocking approximation of the Fire Nation bow. "game on" Kylia growled and conjured up fire blades in her hands

"You're on. Iroh get your mother out of here!"

"but dad!" Izumi growled

"You're a non-bender, now GO!" Zuko yelled

Iroh pulled her mother away from Zuko and Kylia as the battle commenced. Kylia swung to one side and attempted to collapse one of the pillars on Zuko, he threw fire and shattered it with the heat, Izumi had dug her heels in and was watching the fight and Iroh was attempting to pull her away. "she's too good" Iroh pleaded with his mother to move

"You don't think your grandfather can win?"

"It's like he's fighting Korra, mom, and you know it"

Zuko's teeth were bared in a frightening snarl but Kylia kept coming, each attack she threw was closer to hitting its target than the last, Zuko smirked at Kylia and performed the same movement he had used knock his sister over during the battle for the throne. Kylia barely dodged it by jumping up at the last second, she felt her whole lower body cook in the intense jets of fire but her arms and body down to her lowest rib was unburned. She used the height she had gained to bring down a jet of fire on Zuko's head and, while he was distracted, succeeded in hitting him in the legs with two large lumps of rock, his knees buckled and he fell to the floor, he then rolled out of the way of Kylia's next attack, lavabending. "you're quite good" Kylia admitted, "certainly better than Katara was"

Zuko's eyes widened, "you were the one to kill her?!"

"Yup"

"Fuck you!!" Zuko swung up on to his feet again and blasted Kylia with lightning

"no, fuck you!!! Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!" Kylia rolled on to her back after she had been electrocuted, she looked up into Zuko's rage filled eyes and she used the only ability left to her since her body was no longer cooperating. She bloodbent herself, her eyes widened in shock at the pain but she continued regardless, Zuko's eyes widened when he recognised the tense jerky movements

"bloodbending" he hissed and stepped forward, Kylia was ready for him though, she twitched her head and Zuko's fire blast shot harmlessly to her side. He followed up with another ten blasts, all but one missed Kylia, she sensed her concentration was beginning to fail a fraction of a second before she felt her right arm suddenly burn

*

"Shit" she hissed when multiple reinforcements ran up and took their position behind the former Fire Lord, their firebending illuminating their hands. Kylia decided to end them quickly instead of ending Zuko, she broke their bones with a twitch of her hand and Zuko looked around in confusion when they all fell down gasping and groaning in pain. "i broke their bones" Kylia explained as she leapt through the air, propelled by airbending and reinforced by her bloodbending

"You will not harm my daughter" Zuko declared, shooting down multiple pieces of metal that were flying towards Izumi and Iroh

"No, you're right, I won't." Izumi gasped in pain when one of the metal shards pierced her back, "oops" Kylia shrugged but smiled, "she was just the bait"

"wha..." Zuko began, he felt Kylia's attack seconds before it landed, hot lava caught his leg and he spun trying to avoid it, Iroh was charging up from behind and Kylia knew she had to end it

"for the only family I've ever known!" Kylia shouted, dropping to one knee. She avoided Iroh's attacks while coating the floor he was running on with ice. Iroh slipped and missed the final few seconds of the dual. Zuko had moved in to fill Kylia with fire, his hand hovered over her mouth, she simply breathed out and pelted him with shards of ice formed from her breath. Zuko stumbled back, surprised at the inventive new use of waterbending and in those precious few seconds, Kylia raised her hands, engulfing most of Zuko's body in lava. "go to sleep" she hissed. Iroh paused in shock for a second but then heard scratching from above

"Shit..." Iroh whispered and jumped out of the way of the fight, Kylia noticed Izumi had gone, presumably taken to the infirmary

"COWARD!!" she shrieked at Iroh. Then, the ceiling collapsed.

"Druk..." she heard Iroh mutter, she hasn't understood it really, until this twenty tonne dragon tore its way through the roof of the building and coated the entire area with fire.

"fuck... I'm beat" Kylia growled before disappearing underground


	22. Jasmine Teas and Dragons

Korra and her little family were preparing to leave Ba Sing Se and travel back to Republic City by road, to give them an additional week or so of rest and recuperation. Zu had arranged for them to have transport to Republic City, a reasonably luxurious Satomobile with some of Asami's latest technological advances. Asami had been impressed when Zu took them around the back and had shown them the gleaming Satomobile. "it was a present from my uncle" Zu explained, "by all accounts he visited the spirit world recently to visit my grandfather and he told him about me. Woke up one morning and this was sitting in front of my house with a handwritten note from the man himself. He apologised for his absence and explained this was 'in case I wanted to visit'. Unfortunately I've never had the time, the hotel keeps me incredibly busy. That doesn't mean I want it to sit here unused, I want you to take it and use it to drive back to the big city"

"Thank you... But, Zu, there's something I'd like to do first"

"sure?"

"i want to go to your grandfather's tea shop and you're welcome to come along"

"Thank you... Although..."

Zu was interrupted by Korra, "no, you've helped us... And me personally a lot while we've been here in Ba Sing Se, so I insist"

"can't exactly argue with the avatar" Zu laughed

"Unless you happen to have several pillows loaded with rocks" Lin winked at Korra

"Huh?" Zu looked around in confusion, first at Lin, then at Asami and Kya who were laughing and finally at Korra who was blushing furiously. "pillows don't tend to have rocks in them"

"Precisely" Lin smiled and walked around the Satomobile. "nice set of wheels, Zu. Although I should say, you ought to go see your family soon, there's an evil twin running around murdering people" Lin looked away, "had I not patched things up with Su and she had got hurt, I don't know what I would've done"

"thank you, but for now I think it's best that you take my wheels and get back to Republic City. The world will need its avatar to take down whoever this person is"

"it's my sister" Korra whispered, "and I'd really rather not kill her"

"Oh Korra, I'm so so sorry" Zu took Korra's hand and pulled her into a hug

"thank you, Zu" Korra wiped her eyes, "my own parents kept Kylia a secret from me otherwise I could've been out there looking for her"

*

"Korra..." Zu began, they were now walking up the long path from the dividing wall to the Jasmine Dragon. A special set of paths had been built on Earth King Kuei's request to link the Jasmine Dragon to various places of importance across Ba Sing Se. One path linked the wall between the Lower Ring and the Middle Ring to the tea shop in the Upper Ring, another path went around the entire Upper Ring and was called the 'Jasmine Walkway', the fourth and final path went from the tea shop to the outer wall of the Royal Palace. Earth Queen Hou-Ting hadn't been a fan but had kept it because it had been her father's dying wish for her to keep it. "you're going to stop her"

"what if I have to kill her?" Korra sobbed, sitting down at a table in the Jasmine Dragon

"I'm sorry, Korra, but I don't have the answers. "i know you'll try everything you can to not do so though"

"thank you"

"you're welcome" a waiter walked calmly to the table and smiled

"welcome to the Jasmine Dragon! This tea shop was founded one hundred and eighty years ago by the Grand Lotus, Iroh while he was hiding from the Fire Nation. All the staff here have been trained to live up to Iroh's standards, Fire Lord Zuko is the one who ensures that employees are up to Iroh's standards, Iroh passed the secrets of tea on to Zuko who then continued training people after his uncle's death. My name is Li, may I get you some tea?"

"yes please, four jasmines for my friends and a ginseng for me"

"both of those were Iroh's favourites, you won't be disappointed!" the waiter exclaimed and walked off, returning a few minutes later with the tea

"Oh wow" Asami sighed

"This... Is really nice" Lin admitted and sat back

"brilliant tea" Kya exclaimed, tea had always been an important part of her life, both because her mother became an adult drinking the stuff thanks to Zuko's influence and because living in the South Pole was cold at times, even for a waterbender

"Spirits! This is the stuff!" Korra exclaimed, after having tasted Iroh's tea on more than one occasion she knew how delicious that was. This tea wasn't as nice as Iroh's but nothing came close to that, this was the only tea she had ever tasted that was anything like as good as Iroh's. "trust me, sir, Iroh would be pleased" Korra smiled up at the man who turned to see what the final member of their group would say

"This..." Zu let a few tears run down her cheeks, "reminds me of him"

"You knew Iroh?"

"yes, he was my grandfather"

"oh my spirits..." Li dropped into a deep Fire Nation style bow and ran off to get his colleagues

"Fortunately it's quiet at the moment" Lin grumbled

"sweetie... Don't spoil this for Zu" Kya hissed

*

Korra, nervously aware that the waiter and his colleagues would be back soon, stood and turned to face Asami. "Korra... What are...?"

Asami was silenced when Korra dropped to one knee and held out a beautiful betrothal necklace. "Asami Sato, you are my whole world, the light that was at the end of my tunnel when I needed the light the most and the most gorgeously beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on. You took care of me even when I couldn't do so myself. You were always there for me and even though I didn't think much of you at first, I am so very thankful that I gave you a chance to prove my stupid prejudices wrong. From the moment I got in that Satomobile all those years ago I knew you would always be someone I wanted to be around, although it wasn't until I was poisoned that I knew the truth... I love you, Asami. My final thought when I led in my father's arms after the fight with Zaheer was that I'd never get to tell you that I love you and I was hallucinating that my father was you, that's why I tried to reach out and cup his cheek in my hand... I got scared of how I felt, that's why I refused your offer to come to the South Pole with me but that's something else I regret now. I'm sorry I hurt you and abandoned you. You were my driving force to keep me alive and keep me fighting, I know I made a mistake or two along the way" Korra looked at her heavily scarred arms which she was now wearing water tribe armbands over to hide the scars, "but I managed to get the girl in the end... I hope? Asami Sato, will you marry me and be my wife forever?"

Asami was dumbfounded by Korra's heartfelt speech and was genuinely stunned into speechlessness for several long minutes that felt like hours. "Asami" Kya whispered and snapped her out of it

"Well?" Korra asked timidly

"Yes. Korra, the answer is yes, it has always been yes and it will always be yes. Forever and always."

"yes!!!" Korra yelled and jumped into the air excitedly. She showed Asami the betrothal necklace in all its glory before she gently tied it around Asami's throat. Neither Lin nor Kya were aware Korra had been planning this or that she had been perfecting the necklace since before the beginning of the Kylia incident. None of them had any idea that Korra had such a talent with art and none of them had seen anything as beautiful as the betrothal necklace Asami now wore

Kya and Lin gasped at the sheer beauty of the necklace. It was a chunk of pure emerald, refined to perfection and engraved on it was the symbol of the water tribe, the logo of Future Industries and an engraving of Raava, all three were intertwined and the design flowed from one to the next

"I do" Asami whispered to Korra who pulled her in for the biggest cuddle and kiss she had ever had

Kya looked over at Lin, "want a bit of my sleeve?" she whispered to Lin who nodded with her eyes full of tears. Lin took Kya's sleeve and wiped her face with it, the tears that had been threatening to run down her face finally overflowing and running down her face

*

"this is perfect" Asami sighed, she was leant up against Korra in the garden out the back of the Jasmine Dragon. Because Zu was the granddaughter of Iroh, the entire group of employees at the tea shop had wanted to meet them and kept on bringing out more and more trays of tea, both to honour Iroh's memory and celebrate Asami and Korra getting engaged. It was still pretty rare for two women to get married but the employees of the Jasmine Dragon didn't care, they were thrilled at the opportunity to do something for Zu's friends even though they didn't know who the women were.

"did quite well didn't I?" Korra nodded at the betrothal necklace, smiled a big smile and held hands with Asami and Lin, Lin was holding hands with Kya and Kya was holding hands with Asami. Zu was sitting amongst the group and smiling around at her new friends

"thank you" Zu whispered

"No, Zu, thank YOU" Lin stated, her tone was one to ensure there was no challenge from Zu

"Come with us, Zu" Korra whispered

"I don't know, Korra" Zu replied

"come on, it'll do you good to leave this place for a while"

"Fine... I guess?"

"thank you, Zu" Korra smiled. She led them all back to the hotel, thankfully they hadn't seen Wu in the few hours they were in the Upper Ring, got their bags and Zu jumped in to the driving seat while Kya sat in the front and the other three sat in the back with Korra in the middle

"You four get comfortable, I've got this"

"I'll take over after a few hours" Kya replied firmly

"Alright" Zu nodded, started the vehicle up and they drove off into the sunset towards Republic City


	23. End of the Line(Sibling Showdown:part I)

Korra, Asami, Lin, Kya and Zu had only been on the road for two days when they heard the unmistakable lowing from above. The lowing of a flying bison. Jinora sat atop its head while Kuvira, Senna, Tonraq and Opal sat in the main part of the saddle. "hey!" Jinora called, trying to get their attention

"shall I keep driving?" Zu asked

"No" Korra replied. Zu slammed the breaks on and the Satomobile skidded to a halt. Lin and Kya were the first out and they had motioned for Asami and Korra to stay in the Satomobile

"What's up?" Lin asked, her friendly tone covering a sheet of ice cold rage, betrayed only by the glare she affixed on Senna and Tonraq

"we came looking for you!" Jinora smiled at Lin and Kya before Kuvira stepped forward

"Fire Lord Izumi issued a general distress call" Kuvira sighed, "Tenzin, Su, Ikki, Meelo, Bumi and several others are headed there now, we came out to see if we could find you"

"And we did. Fortunately your spiritual energy is like a beacon, Korra!" Jinora beamed happily but her smile faltered when she saw Korra hadn't even got out of the Satomobile

Lin scowled at Senna and Tonraq, "THEY had to come, didn't they?!" she hissed

"Senna and Tonraq?" Opal inquired, she had never seen her aunt look this murderous, Jinora also looked taken aback, her easy going free flowing aunt Kya she knew had seemingly vanished, the person she saw before her looked nearly as murderous as Lin

"aunt Kya?"

"aunt Lin?"

"THEY caused Korra so much pain and so much suffering...!" Lin snapped, pointing at Senna and Tonraq

"They should be ashamed of themselves" Kya added

"guys, stop" Opal whispered

"shut it, kid" Opal paused and looked at her aunt with tears in her eyes before she realised that Lin hadn't been the one to speak, Kya had

"no!" Opal glared at Kya through her tears, "didn't you hear what we said? Izumi sent out a general distress call!"

"what's happened?" Zu leapt out of the Satomobile and ran to Opal, she was ignoring the murderous looking adults aware that they may decide to snuff Senna and Tonraq or even her at any second

"we don't know..." Kuvira sighed, "that's why Tenzin and the others have gone to see what's going on"

Lin and Kya were still eyeing Senna and Tonraq with intense distaste but then the Satomobile door opened and Korra got out. "Sweetie!" Senna exclaimed and ran forward, she found herself trapped in a block of ice. "hey!" she exclaimed

"Korra" Tonraq had also grunted but he had stopped when he saw his wife get caught in a block of ice

"Wise move, Chief" Kya's voice had a slight sneer to it, whatever respect she had for Senna and Tonraq had vanished, and the worst part of it was, Tonraq understood

*

"Cut it out" Korra's voice held no warmth but it was still firm. She walked up to Lin and Kya and looked intently at Kya while intertwining her fingers with Lin's. Asami had hurried over and was standing with her back to Senna and Tonraq, her arm around Korra's waist and head on her shoulder. Kya let the water go and Korra then took Kya's hand too

"sweetie..." Senna whispered, but Korra didn't turn and look at her, she had either ignored her mother or simply not heard. _No_ Senna teared up, seeing Tonraq nod slowly and sigh as if he had expected this

"You came here with a job to do, let's do it" Korra muttered, looking around at all of her friends and family.

"We will always be at your side" Lin declared, Kya nodded, Asami kissed Korra and all the others also nodded and moved in

"I've been getting a strange spiritual twinge from an area a few miles away in that direction" Jinora pointed away from the direction the Satomobile had come from and not in the direction the bison had come from either

"Whatever it is, it's big" Kuvira added, "whenever these two attempted to meditate to work out what it was they felt immensely nauseous afterwards" she smiled reassuringly at Jinora and Opal, "you two did your best"

"Then let's go see" Korra declared. "you lot take the flying bison, we'll take the Satomobile"

*

The group split themselves up, Asami, Korra, Lin and Kya squashed themselves into the Satomobile, they were joined, much to Korra's annoyance, by Senna and Tonraq. The rest went on Pepper and they split up to search the area that Jinora had indicated. "do you feel that?" Korra had asked and the others shook their heads, "weird spiritual energy I've never felt before" Korra explained, they simply shook their heads again

"I can feel that though" Asami muttered when their Satomobile began to shake. Seconds later the wheels flew off and the vehicle spun uncontrollably and smashed into a pillar that hadn't been there a second before. Tonraq and Kya flew through the windscreen and bounced off the ground a few times with sickening crunches before they settled on the ground, their arms and legs splayed at weird angles

"mom!! Dad!!" Korra shrieked and metalbent the roof off of Zu's Satomobile. She jumped out before another column of earth rose and flipped it on to its roof

"Shit" Asami hissed, she looked around, Lin and Senna were unconscious but she was uninjured. After she has sliced her seatbelt off, she clambered out and dragged Lin out, she considered leaving Senna in there but in the end she pulled her out as well, just in time because the Satomobile was flipped over again and smashed into an area where someone had been stood seconds before

*

"Come out come out wherever you are" called a deliberately sickly approximation of Korra's voice

 _Kylia_ Asami thought with dread. She threw herself in the direction of the voice while pulling on her glove. She dodged three fireballs and a water whip before a rumble beneath the ground caused Kylia to leap away. Korra erupted from the ground, lifting huge chunks of earth and throwing them at Kylia. Kylia simply smashed most of them but threw two of the massive rocks back at Korra who shattered them with lightning. A third bolt of lightning was directed at Kylia's chest but she flung a water whip around the ruined hunk of the Satomobile and the electricity from the lightning followed the water into the Satomobile causing it to explode forcefully. Kylia grinned, having thought she'd wiped out a few more of her enemies before she threw the burning metal shards at Asami with metalbending

"no!" Korra was forced to intercept the shards with metalbending while placing herself between Asami and the burning metal. She managed to stop all but one of them which lodged itself in Korra's stomach

"Korra!!!" Asami shrieked, Korra had bent over in pain but before Kylia could make a move, Asami heard movement behind her and Tonraq was on his feet, he pelted Kylia with ice for long enough for him to get close and he was preparing to slice Kylia's legs off when he was hit back by a gust of boiling hot air. He was winded and crumpled on to the floor again. He had, however given Korra the time she needed to make her next move. She launched three fireballs at Kylia who dodged them, but she then stumbled on ice that hadn't been there a nanosecond before. Korra's feet left the ground so Kylia effortlessly switched to her equivalent of seismic sense for firebenders. She watched a Korra-shaped mass of warmth swoop in, she knew where all her vulnerabilities were and she exploited several. A lump of earth struck Korra's stomach which knocked her off course and two jets of water came into contact with two parts of Korra's body, her left shoulder and her right hip. Korra spun away uncontrollably and slammed into a wall of earth that hadn't been there before. Korra groaned and blasted herself into the air when the wall and the ground both turned into lava. She wasn't fully quick enough though, she felt her back burn from the heat of the lava and she groaned out loud from the pain. Korra looked at Kylia who was smiling at her pain and decided she had to end it. Korra's eyes glowed for a second and she shot in faster than the eye could see, she grabbed Kylia around the throat and threw her as hard as she could. Kylia stopped herself smashing into her wall of lava, turned to face Korra and threw a huge jet of water at Korra. Korra dropped to the floor, had she been hit it would've broken every bone in her body, even if she had attempted to waterbend it.

*

Kylia realised she hadn't been using her biggest advantages, she twisted her fingers, Asami shrieked in pain, "stop or I'll snap her spine!" Kylia growled, she was standing still as she fully believed she had won. Her moment of inaction gave Korra the chance she'd been waiting for, she leapt into the air and landed on Kylia, she punched her repeatedly in the face, each time her hand made contact it had become coated with sharp ice shards or fire

"Leave her out of this you bitch" Korra growled, Kylia threw Korra off of her with bloodbending, the now familiar feeling of losing control of her body had Korra panicked for a second while she remembered Amon. Kylia grinned a pitying grin at Korra, pitying the _almighty_ Avatar's weakness and fear before she slammed Korra into the ground once. Twice. Three times. Korra groaned, trying to move her arms to protect herself but due to the bloodbending hold, she was unable to. Finally she activated the avatar state which broke her out of the bloodbending, she sealed Kylia into a rock prison and moved in to try to take her bending. Kylia smirked, grabbed one of the metal shards without even a twitch and threw it at Korra. Korra parried the blow but in the time she did that, Kylia had broken free and had charged a lightning attack that was pointed directly at Asami. Kylia gave Korra another look of pity before she unleashed the hundred thousand amp blast. To Korra, it seemed as if the next few seconds were in slow motion, she leapt away from Kylia, sacrificing her victory as she had had a sharpened shard of metal nearly to Kylia's throat, past the leading edge of the lightning, landed, extended her arm and took the full blow of the lightning herself. "aaaaaaaaaaagggghhhhhhh!!" Korra spluttered a horrific cry before falling to the floor with a thud

"Korra!!" Asami cried, she overloaded her glove without thinking and shot the resulting blast of energy directly at Kylia's back. She had landed with her back turned so she could have her full attention on Lin and Kya's devastation at their daughter suffering an almost certain to be fatal shocking. Her seismic sense detected Asami's movements and she had attempted to turn but Asami had been too fast

"ugh!!" Kylia groaned when the blast struck her, "aaaaaaahhhhh" she then screamed, the electricity and plasma filling her body. "fuck you" Kylia growled and she threw two blades at Asami, who, with her broken legs, was unable to get out of the way in time. Asami's eyes widened when she felt the blades pierce her chest and neck. "no fucking non-bender gets the better of me!!" Kylia hissed

Kylia's focus on Asami meant she was unaware that Korra had pulled herself back on to her feet, she was still weak from the lightning but she was standing. And angry, oh so angry. Korra's eyes flickered and she entered the avatar state and was imbibed with every little bit of energy Raava and the cosmos could give her. "YOU HURT MY BELOVED!!" Korra roared, her voice once again mingled with hundreds of others. Korra felt Aang touch her, then Roku, then Kyoshi, then Kurok, then Yangchen, then hundreds of others and finally Wan and Raava's. Korra felt a huge surge of power as well as the comfort of the past avatars, she had managed to do something incredible, something she didn't even understand, she reached them not through normal means, but through _time_ itself, Zaheer said the Avatar's power was limitless and for a few seconds she had managed to tear through to a time she could reach the other avatars. Reinvigorated, Korra unleashed an attack that could've killed Kylia in a fraction of a nanosecond had it reached her. Kylia, on the other hand, was ready, she didn't have the distraction of seeing Korra create an elemental sphere, she didn't have the distraction of Korra's eyes lighting up nor of her floating unsupported even though she heard the hundreds of voices. Therefore, even though she knew she was likely going to die, she took a step forward fearlessly, pulled the metal out of Asami's throat and launched it through Korra's throat. Korra fell to her knees, leaving the avatar state to ensure the avatar cycle's survival and feeling the fragile link to the past avatars snap at the same second. Korra felt as though she had been deflated, the blood seeping from the wound was the air and Korra's body was the balloon. Kylia triumphantly stood over her as she led on her side, Kylia fashioned a few hundred more metal blades and leveled them at Korra before she flexed her fingers and there were more groans of pain, other people's bones had just crumbled to prevent their escape

"you're already dead, avatar" she sneered and softened her voice, "such a shame, had you joined us we could've had the world"

Korra's eyes widened, she had worked out who this person was... "Kyl... Cupunko..." she coughed, her voice softened, not through choice but because of the weakness she was now experiencing, her entire body had gone cold and she couldn't move but her face felt warm because of the puddle of blood she was led in, "why?" she strained to make herself heard but Kylia had heard her because she dropped the blades

"Coal Girl?" she gasped, having sensed the scars earlier she had been unable to put it together but now everything clicked into place. The visions, the scars, the multiple bending abilities, finally, with a cry she remembered why she had torn her own eyes out. _Korra... Korra was Coal Girl_ she realised, _andCoal Girl was my twin sister, my true family_. She gasped and collapsed to her knees, her eyes filled with tears. She knew... It was too late. She would've used her bloodbending to try to save her even though deep down she knew it to be impossible to achieve but a scream of pain surprised her. Lin had screamed, run past her and cuddled Korra close while openly bawling like a young child. Kya dragged Asami over while crawling, her legs a bleeding mess from Kylia's bonebending, and Asami and Korra both held hands before their eyes closed. Kya and Lin screamed their pain and sobbed uncontrollably on to each others' shoulders, their emotional pain too intense for anyone else to comprehend. _What have I done?_ was Kylia's last coherent thought, she had also finally noticed the betrothal necklace and that only made things a thousand times worse

A/N: and so we've reached the end of part one... part two coming soon


	24. The Return (Sibling Showdown: Part II)

Lin turned to Kylia with a guttural snarl, she raised her arms and a body shell of platinum bent itself around Kylia, trapping her. Kylia's eyes widened instinctively in what would've been shock had she had eyes and she felt herself being forced into a standing position by Lin, she was Lin's puppet now. "Korra! Korra!" a shriek came from the distance and Kylia just managed to turn her head far enough to watch a flying bison arrive.

"Fuck!" a woman exclaimed, having jumped down from the bison and ran forwards

"No... No, my babies" Kya sobbed, too overcome with emotion and too injured to do much other than to sit there sobbing over the fallen women

"I will kill you, Kylia" Lin hissed, her face inches from Kylia's

"Aunt Lin"

"Kuvira" Lin replied, the single word was spoken in such a way that made it abundantly clear that Lin didn't want to be alive much anymore

"Go be with your daughters and girlfriend" Kuvira sighed, her own cheeks wet

"but... What about..."

"I got this" Kuvira indicated her seriousness with a twitch of her fingers, platinum shot from the prison, sharpened, stabbed Kylia in the cheek and drew blood, Kylia's arms then twisted around into a position behind her back that didn't look very comfortable

"right" Lin had a dead look in her eyes, as if her life was no longer worth living, her look was shared by Kya who was still sobbing over their daughters' bodies. Opal, Zu, Jinora, Senna and Tonraq had joined them, the latter two were being supported by the others, their legs also a mess. All of the new arrivals stood there shocked, Kylia was trapped in platinum and Korra and Asami were led there in pools of their own blood

"Time of death, ten fifty three in the morning" Kya sobbed

"huh?" Lin grunted, _had it really only been one minute since they stopped breathing_?She wrapped her arms around Korra and held her while Kya did the same with Asami. Shrieks of pain from the two mothers filled the air. Zu came forward and put her hands on the couple's shoulders and sighed

"Korra and Asami deserved to be happy" Zu whispered and motioned for the couple to put their daughters down. To everyone's surprise, Lin and Kya complied slowly, laying their daughters in positions so they looked as if they were sleeping together

"I'm so sorry for your loss" Opal had turned sadly to Senna and Tonraq, acutely aware that Lin and Kya may have replaced Senna and Tonraq but she thought that doubled the reasons she should offer condolences to Senna and Tonraq

Jinora just stood there in tears, Korra was the avatar, yes, but first and foremost she was her friend.

Kuvira had moved over to Jinora and Opal and pulled them into tight hugs, "we ought to alert King Wu to begin the search for the new avatar"

"Tomorrow" Jinora replied, _shouldn't something have happened? Something anything to signify Korra's avatar spirit leaving her and moving on?_ _She certainly didn't die in the avatar state, her bending wasn't nearly powerful enough nor were her eyes glowing_. "it's too soon, we need time"

*

It had now been three minutes since their deaths and Lin sobbed over their bodies, not paying much attention to Senna or Tonraq. In her eyes it was their fault. "no... No..." Lin couldn't help herself, _if I get knocked up in the next few minutes, maybe Raava will choose my daughter_. She grimaced at such a thought but it was true, the next avatar was due to be born in the Earth Kingdom and while she didn't exactly have a strong connection to the spirits, she definitely had a strong connection to two avatars

"Got yourselves a bit of a problem here, then?" Lin was startled but she was even more shocked when she saw Korra and Asami's blood flow, _spirits it isn't even dry yet! She_ looked around and Korra's blood flowed back in to Korra and Asami's blood flowed back in to Asami

Kya looked up in shock, "was that..."

"nope... I can't bloodbend when it's not a full moon" Kya whispered regretfully "Was it...?"

"nope" Lin replied shortly, fully aware of what Kya was trying to ask

They both turned and looked up at the person who was casting a shadow on them. "hello, Lin, hello, Kya... I would stop and chat but I'm trying to save these two"

Lin and Kya's mouths fell open, it didn't even look like the others had realised what was going on, they were crying as a group. Zu and Kuvira comforted Jinora and Opal while Senna and Tonraq just sobbed a short distance away. "mom...?" Kya whispered

"My beautiful daughter... I somewhat regret not teaching you bloodbending now" Katara's voice was as gentle as it always had been

"K... Katara?" Lin felt her mouth fall open but she quickly teared up and moved forward when she felt Korra and Asami's hearts start beating once again through the earth they were lying on. "y... Y... Y..." Lin stuttered

"i saved them, yes" Katara whispered happily, she embraced Lin and Kya, whispering to the latter, "you thinking about proposing to her soon?"

"mom!" Kya breathed, overcome with emotion, _this isn't the time to be thinking about ourselves!_ Kya yelled internally, _we need to worry about Korra and Asami!_

Lin had already moved forward while Kya was engaged in her mental monologue, she had her arms around Korra and Asami and was willing them to wake. "come on sweeties... Please, mommy Lin is so worried... Please hurry and wake up"

"Ungh" Korra groaned, her blue eyes opening slowly, she found herself staring up into Lin's light green and pain filled eyes. "m... Mom?"

Lin's body wracked with sobs, "you're alright" she cried, "you're alright!"

"I've got a headache, I feel a tad dizzy and my neck hurts but other than that I'm fine... Where's Asami?"

"Asami hasn't woken up yet"

"No..."

"I felt her heart beating though"

"Thank the spirits"

*

Lin smiled down at her daughter before she looked over in amazement at the others who hadn't even realised Korra and Asami were still alive, "hey, knuckleheads!" Lin called. They turned and shared an astounded look when they saw Lin was smiling, "you lot coming over here or not?"

Opal shrugged as if to say 'why not', they had all been giving Lin and Kya some space with their fallen daughters but she moved forward anyway, around the old woman who stood over the girls and she stopped, her breath catching in her throat. "Korra...?" she breathed, "Asami?"

"Hey Opal" Korra groaned

 _Spirits, Korra_ "you look a mess"

"Thanks" Korra rolled her eyes, "gonna give me a hug?"

"of course!" Opal shrieked and gently embraced one of her best friends, "Jinora! Zu! Kuv! Senna! Tonraq!" Opal winced at Lin and Kya's shared scowl but they still were Korra's biological mother and father

"what?" Jinora hiccuped through her sobs

"Get your airbender butt over here and find out!" Opal cheered back, everyone ran over before they stopped, their eyes widening

"Hey, guys" Korra whispered weakly, her eyes passed over Senna but rested on Tonraq for a few seconds

"Korra!!" Jinora shrieked, Korra winced at the noise but she was wrapped up in a massive hug seconds later

"Careful, Jinora..." the old woman laughed, "or you might undo all my good work"

"Gran-Gran!!" Jinora exclaimed and hugged her, "you're alive?!"

"hey, trouble" Katara chuckled, "I missed you"

"Korra" Kuvira sighed with relief, her mind off of hurting Kylia for a few valuable seconds

"W... What happened?" Asami's vivid green eyes met vivid blue ones first but then met lighter blue ones and lighter green ones. "Korra... Mom? Mommy?"

"yes, my beautiful fiance"

"My daughters"

" _our_ beautiful daughters!"

"Thank the spirits you're all otay!" Asami sighed

"No, thank the spiritsyou'reotay" Lin sighed, tears running down her face, " _both_ of you"

*

Kylia's distressed and pained panting was getting louder and that reminded Kuvira of her job. She twisted her hands and Kylia gasped, her body was being slowly crushed by Kuvira. "stop" Lin declared

"Aunt Lin?" Kuvira questioned

"That's my job"

"Fair enough" Kuvira moved back and allowed Lin the freedom to control Kylia's prison

"you tried to KILL MY DAUGHTERS!" Lin roared, her face was a scowl and she looked even more murderous than she had before. She was going to kill Kylia, but she was going to make her suffer first, even if Kylia had looked genuinely regretful after she realised who Korra was. Her hands moved closer together and the metal armour continued to crush every bit of Kylia's body, her head was restrained, her mouth had a platinum strip over it and even her ears were covered by plates of platinum. "I will fucking kill you, bitch!"

"Here" Kuvira handed Lin the last piece of platinum she had taken from her prison after she had saved Bolin's life

"Thanks" Lin smiled a warm smile but then scowled again. She flexed the platinum and wrapped it tightly around Kylia's throat, she then began to tighten it slowly. When Kylia screamed, Lin smiled

*

"Stop!!" Korra called weakly from Kya's arms

"Korra?"

"D... Don't hurt her"

"Korra..." Lin sighed and loosened the platinum around Kylia's neck. The young Korra lookalike was already unconscious and surprisingly close to suffocation, her blood was dripping from the wounds on her neck. Lin was about to tear the platinum off of Kylia's neck but decided against it. "in case you try to hurt my daughters again" Lin hissed. "a reminder of what I will do to you"

She kicked Kylia and walked away. "mom" Korra whispered reproachfully

"she's alive" Lin replied regretfully

"could you help Kya patch Korra's injuries up?" Katara asked quickly

"Sure" Kya and Lin got to work doing temporary stitching on Korra's and Asami's necks as well as Asami's chest while in the meantime Zu and Opal crafted temporary splints out of a nearby felled tree to help Lin and Kya walk with their mangled legs, they then did the same for Senna and Tonraq.

*

After Lin and Kya had finished, Korra no longer felt like she was in imminent danger of deflating again. She smiled at Lin and Kya before she pushed off on them to stand. Korra moved slowly and staggeringly but, with a little help from Kuvira, she got to where she was going. "what is she doing?" Asami asked

"dunno" Lin replied

"Kylia" Korra whispered, she checked her lookalike's pulse and sighed with relief when she found it. She then placed her finger on Kylia's forehead and there was a white glow

"Energybending" Katara sighed

"Her bending is gone" Korra groaned, she had fallen into Kuvira's waiting arms after using energybending. Lin bent the platinum armour off of Kylia and around herself, she left the now blunt ring of platinum around Kylia's neck though as she promised, a reminder of what would happen if she tried to hurt her daughters again

"It's over" Asami sighed, Korra moved back to sit with Asami and they were joined quickly by Lin and Kya

"It's over" the four of them said as one, they all hugged each other happily and more tightly than they had ever hugged before.

A/N: might've been planning this since chapter 4... Trying to _drown_ the best waterbender in the world, come on!!


	25. Separate Ways but Reunited

"what next?" Kuvira asked

"There are airships incoming from Ba Sing Se" Tonraq replied reluctantly. "i called on the radio the moment I knew SHE was here" Tonraq looked pointedly at Kylia, who was still unconscious. "i can't believe you spared her, Korra"

"I'm sorry..."

"it was the right thing to do"

"Thanks for understanding" Korra flashed her father a half-smile, but it was for a fraction of a second.

"She's only going to cause problems, for all of us and she's wanted dead or alive by four of the five nations"

"fuck off" Korra spat

"it's the truth" Tonraq sighed, "and don't talk to your mom like that"

"You taught me that word..." Tonraq blushed in embarrassment, "and we'll just have to keep Kylia safe, won't we?"

"You two need hospital" Katara added

"this is what we're going to do" Lin finally spoke, she could almost see the airships in the distance, "me, Katara, Kya, Senna and Tonraq will take an airship back to Ba Sing Se with Korra and Asami. Jinora, you take Pepper and fly Zu back to the fire nation to find out whatever has happened."

"Hey, what about us?" Kuvira complained

"I was just getting to that. You and Opal take Kylia and leave. Head to the Southern Water Tribe and try to get to the spirit portal, somehow. Kuvira you're not supposed to be out of jail yet so it's best if you take Kylia, unless you enjoy staring at the same blank piece of platinum all day every day?"

"we'll need a boat or a plane or something"

"we saw a boat about twenty miles away" Jinora piped up. "it looks to be owned by someone, we didn't get a chance to look closely but it was hidden fairly well so chances are it'll still be there"

"Then go" Lin commanded. Kuvira nodded, grabbed Kylia with bands of metal, wrapping then around her arms, legs and body so she'd float while she was unconscious, grabbed Opal's hand and ran for cover

"Good luck!" Korra called

"We'll be fine, Zu, go be with your family" Kya pushed her towards the waiting bison

"wish you lot could come with me" Zu whispered reluctantly, she turned to run to the bison but stopped half way there. "don't forget to send me an invite to the weddings!"

"deal!" Korra replied, feeling the edges of her vision getting blurry again, the strenuous activity of the energybending having severely depleted her energy reserves that were available in her current state

"Korra?" Lin whispered

"m'fine" Korra slurred weakly. The airship landed and Earth Kingdom officers loaded Asami and Korra up

*

"Chief Beifong" one of the soldiers walked up to her and nodded, "King Wu ordered us here as soon as he received your distress call even though officially it was his last day on the throne yesterday"

"Really?" Kya replied while Lin blocked senna and Tonraq from boarding

"you will not visit Korra unless she says it's alright? Otay?" Lin glared at them and they shifted uncomfortably

 _If looks could kill..._ Tonraq thought

"fine" Senna replied dejectedly

"you did this to yourselves" Lin replied, picking up on the tone. "you only have yourselves to blame"

"we realise that" Tonraq sighed

"my daughters don't need any extra stress" Lin grunted

"my girlfriend is correct" Kya came and stood next to Lin. "you harass them and I'll ask mom to bloodbend you overboard, or on to one of the other airships, clear?"

"crystal" Tonraq sighed, he realised a while ago that he had lost both of his daughters

"Sorted" Lin moved aside to let them board and the airship took off back towards Ba Sing Se

*

Lin and Kya found Asami and Korra lying in one of the beds that had been loaded in case there were wounded, they were both talking with a man that looked to be the captain. "again I can't thank you enough" he said

"it was no big deal" Asami replied

"You saved all our lives"

"And our own in the process" Asami reminded him

"You know each other?" Kya asked, an eyebrow raised

"Yes, mom" Kya teared up slightly, "it was his crew who picked us up from the Earth Kingdom base near the Misty Palms Oasis and took us across the Si Wrong Desert."

"Fort Bosco? Then this must be the same knucklehead captain who nearly got you both killed" Lin glared at the man and he writhed uncomfortably, now understanding why that other couple had felt so uneasy under Lin's glare

"but we worked together and saved everyone. It was their tools we used to fix the airship and make the sand sailor"

"Right" Lin stopped glaring so much and he couldn't help but heave a massive sigh

"we should be back at Ba Sing Se in about three hours" he added

"thank you Tu"

"You're welcome" he smiled before leaving

"Moms, you need to rest too" Asami wearily groaned

"I'm fine"

"really." Asami rolled her eyes, "Lie down, both of you. Take the other bed"

Lin blushed and opened her mouth to speak but closed it again. "fine." Kya and Lin sat down before they led back and were instantly asleep

"how do you feel?" Katara had entered

"fine, Katara" Korra replied

"I don't believe you"

"We'll manage" Asami replied, Korra and Asami turned to face one another and quickly fell asleep in each others' arms, Katara watched over them all carefully while smiling

*

*

"Ugh. I feel like we've been walking for hours!"

"O, quit your moaning'

"it's easy for you"

"easy?" Kuvira echoed, "I've barely taken twenty steps a day for six years. Trust me, I imagined my freedom very differently to how it's turned out..."

"I'm not used to walking eit..."

"will you two quit your whinging?"

"Ah, Kylia. You're awake" Kuvira dropped her unceremoniously, "which means you can walk and I don't have to carry you anymore"

"where's Korra?" Kylia had a vivid flashback of shooting the metal shard through Korra's throat before she had realised who Korra was and it left her shaking. "oh what did I do?" Kylia sobbed

"relax" Opal began

"Don't talk to her like she's a friend"

"Kuv, we're gonna be stuck with her for a while so why don't we all try to get along?"

Kuvira took several minutes to think it over. "fine" she nodded, "and just so you know, Kylia, it was Korra who asked Lin not to kill you"

"Korra's alive?!"

"Yes" Opal relaxed. Kylia wasn't going to be an issue

"Thank the spirits" Kylia whispered. "w... Why am I with you two then?"

"Korra and Asami needed hospital" Kuvira snarled

"Oh. Yeah, right. Should've seen that coming"

"Kylia. I've been where you are now"

"you?"

"Yes. Me" Kuvira sighed. "i was once known as 'The Great Uniter' and I once conquered the entire Earth Kingdom, not in the name of the Earth Monarchy, but in the name of my own Empire. I did some unpleasant things and marched on Republic City. People were injured, people were left homeless, people lost everything they had and people were killed throughout those few years. I was defeated in Republic City and Korra stopped the spirit weapon from killing me. You, like me, have been given a second chance"

Kylia sat heavily, "i did so much harm"

"and I didn't?"

"i killed people"

"and I didn't?"

"it's different"

"No it's not. What I did was worse, Kylia, trust me. I betrayed and used innocent civilians and forced them to join my Empire"

"and I killed world leaders" Kylia replied, "if one of us was going to get the death sentence, it'd be me"

A dark look crossed Kuvira's face. "Kuv?" Opal whispered

"i... I was sentenced to death initially"

"WHAT?!" Opal jumped up in her anger

"But Korra saved me, again. She convinced Suyin and the other world leaders not to kill me"

"Kuv..." Opal wrapped her arms around Kuvira and held her tightly

"I... I'm glad they didn't kill you" Kylia admitted. "I've never even had an acquaintance before"

*

The three lapsed into silence after that and continued walking, the path was easy and level so Kylia had no difficulty navigating. After another few hours they arrived at a river. "where are we going?" Kylia asked

"Jinora, uh little girl with airbender tattoos" Kuvira hastily added on the second bit when Kylia looked confused, "saw a boat in this area when... Watch out, Kylia!" Kuvira ran forward and caught Kylia as she fell, dazed from walking into a tree

"ow" Kylia groaned. "where are we?"

"We're just coming up on a small river, there's a boat moored just ahead"

"Are we in a thicket of trees, most of which are over two hundred feet high?"

"Yes?"

"and the leaves are still on the trees even though it's autumn now?"

"Yes, where are you going with this?"

"Then i think that's my boat" Kylia whispered

"Your boat?"

Opal rolled her eyes, "of all the coincidences..."

"Come on, you two!" Kylia rushed forward and navigated the area without any further issues

"Wow..."

"I have a photographic memory" Kylia explained

"evidently"

Kylia led them on to the boat, "i should probably warn you that I have weapons stashed away..."

"found 'em" Kuvira grunted. "knives, a platinum knife, an Equalist glove and several nasty looking swords and katanas"

"Well I was a Red Lotus assassin yanno?"

"was?"

"I want no part in it anymore. Those bastards lied to me my whole life"

"nice to hear"

Kylia fell to her knees. "Kylia?" Opal asked, "you alright?"

Kylia just knelt there and after a few seconds she screamed

"We will be landing in Ba Sing Se in five minutes!"

"Ugh! Shut it loudspeaker man!" Korra moaned sleepily

"Kor, time to wake up, sweetie"

"Mama?"

"Yes, I'm here"

"Mommy?"

"I'm here too"

"We're nearly at Ba Sing Se baby, we need to get you up. The captain has provided us with wheelchairs"

"shit... Not AGAIN!"

"Korra... You look a mess and if I'm honest like you're going to collapse any minute"

"fine!"

"Don't worry these chairs have been adapted so you can push yourself along... Ahem so that we can push ourselves along"

"Right" Korra slowly sat up, she swayed a little but was able to get herself into the wheelchair where she promptly had another flashback. "Aaaaaaaahhhh!!" she shrieked

*

"Korra..." Asami's voice echoed over a chasm so wide that Korra could barely hear her. "Korra!"

"Mmm?" Korra slowly opened her eyes

"oh Korra! mom! Mama!" Asami exclaimed, "she's awake!"

Korra looked around and took in her surroundings. Without any of the golden doors, the place looked a lot different, but it was still the Royal Palace. "welcome to Ba Sing Se" a vaguely familiar voice exclaimed, "or should I say welcome _back_ to Ba Sing Se. I have to admit I was upset that you hadn't come to visit me while you were in the city a few days ago... But that's alright really. My home is your home"

"Wu" Korra groaned, holding her hand up to her throat where an ugly scar had started to form. "shit"

"It looks fine, Korra" Wu replied before he jumped out of the way of Lin's fist

"Royalty or no, don't try hitting on my daughter again" Lin growled dangerously

"I wasn't?" Wu had narrowly avoided being punched by dancing out of the way using some of the techniques he'd picked up while engaging in his music career

"Good boy"

"Anyway you'll be pleased to hear that I've advised the interim president of the Earth Republic to order the entire Earth Republic military to seek out your attacker. The Water Tribes have pledged their military support, as has the Fire Nation after that unpleasant incident a few days ago, the Air Nation have vowed to keep an eye out too, and the United Forces are beginning their sweep"

"what incident in the Fire Nation?" Asami asked

"didn't you know? Lord Zuko was murdered" Wu explained

*

*

"Kylia?"

"Ugh"

"Kylia?"

"yes?" she shook her head in an effort to clear the fog that was still clouding her mind

"Are you alright?" Opal's face came more into focus

"Fffff... Fuck, I don't know"

"What happened?"

"i was in that damn cave again"

"What cave?"

"the cave I've never been in... Uh you two don't know, do you?"

"know what?"

"About Korra's past?"

"She's one of my best friends, Kylia" Opal snapped

"I'm sorry" Kylia turned away

"Wait..." Opal sighed, they had been floating in Kylia's boat for a number of hours now and things were more than slightly awkward

"what happened to Korra?" Kuvira asked, "I've noticed she's started wearing those armbands again and... That they got damaged in your fight, I saw what was underneath them"

"Did you? I didn't think the armbands were damaged?"

"Lin must've put new ones on her" Kuvira muttered

"why?"

"Opal, you're gonna need to sit down" Kylia instructed kindly

"Fine" she sat, "I'm sitting down now would someone please tell me?!"

"Opal," Kylia began, "i think Korra tried to kill herself"

"no..." Opal's vision blurred as the tears started to flow

"let me pass!!"

"I'm sorry miss, the Royal Palace is off limits to all civilians at the moment"

"I'm NOT a civilian!!"

"What is your name?"

"Zu!!"

"Right. Hang on" the guard muttered and got on the radio. "nope. Nobody on the guard has heard of you"

"get Iroh out here, or Zuko!"

"I'm sorry, miss you'll have to..."

"can I help?"

"Prince Iroh?"

"Zu?"

"You recognise me?"

"Of course, guard! Let her pass!"

"Yes, sir!" he moved aside and Zu ran forward into Iroh's arms

"I'm so sorry, Zu" Iroh had tears in his eyes

"what's happened?"

"Grandfather Zuko has been murdered"

"WHAT?! Zu screamed, "this is that Kylia's doing, isn't it?!"

"yes." A voice echoed from the far side of the room they had just walked into

"Fuck her"

"you met her?" Izumi asked

"Briefly, after she murdered Korra and Asami"

"Korra and Asami are dead?!" Izumi gasped, her face became pained

"No, thankfully an elderly woman came to save them both. A bloodbender"

"Katara?!"

"yes, what of it?"

"She's supposed to be dead too" Izumi mused, "anyway, welcome to the Fire Nation, ever since m... My father told me and Iroh about you I've been waiting to meet you" Zu moved in and wrapped her arms around Izumi without a second thought, "I'm Izumi, guess that makes us cousins"

"I'm so sorry for your loss" Zu let the other woman bury her head in her shoulder and cry

"Korra?"

"Kylia did so much harm...I don't know if I'll be able to persuade the remaining world leaders not to execute her on sight"

"She's going to be safe, she has Kuvira and Opal with her"

"and if they're caught with her, they'll be executed too!"

"Korra!" Asami clicked her fingers in front of her girlfriend's face, "they'll be fine! Kuvira and Opal are both resourceful people"

"i know... I'm just scared"

"i know, Korra"

"how do you feel now?" Katara's kind voice filled the room and to Korra it felt like a warm blanket

"Better" Korra fingered the dressing that covered the majority of her throat, "i want to leave"

"You can't, Korra" Katara replied, "your neck is still fragile"

"Fuck"

"I know this is stressing you out, Korra, but she'll be fine at least until you and Asami get there"

"But what if she's not?"

"then you'll fix it"

"... Thank you, Katara"

"Now, if it's alright with you, someone would like to see you"

"who?"

"Your father" Katara looked around at the three other women who sat around Korra's bed when they all inhaled sharply

"fine, let him in... But don't expect me to talk" Korra rolled over and put her head back in Asami's lap

"You may go in" Katara nodded as she passed Tonraq, who also nodded. "she might not talk though"

"i understand" he opened the door and walked towards Korra's bed. He ignored the furious glares of the two older ladies, his eyes firmly set on Korra's back. "Korra" he began talking shakily, "i just wanted you to know... I have been so scared that I've lost my daughter forever recently, I just want you to know I'm so so sorry for not telling you the truth, I just wanted you to have a normal life and your mom had it right..."

"ahem, sorry to interrupt, _Tonraq_ , butI'mKorra's mommy" Lin growled

"and I'm mama" Kya added, also scowling

"i meant no disrespect" Tonraq sighed, "the fact that you didn't remember seemed like such a gift, especially after I watched you nearly wither and die after Zaheer poisoned you. That trauma nearly killed you, the fact that you didn't remember the next one seemed like such a wonderful thing... But now, I see I shouldn't have kept it from you, I should've at least given you the option of finding out. Korra..." he thought he saw Korra shift when he said her name again, "i know you'll never forgive me for keeping the truth from you"

"dad" Korra whispered it so quietly that Tonraq nearly missed it, his eyes widened when he saw her body shake with sobs. He didn't dare move closer though, Kya and Lin were ready for that

"I'm so so so sorry, Korra" he felt tears run down his face now, "i love you, I don't know how I'll ever make it..." he gasped when Korra rolled over, stood shakily and ran over to him

"Daddy" she sobbed

"Korra... What... Why?"

"why did I make the effort to forgive you so easily?" Korra asked, smiling a little, "because a wise old soul that i met on a Fire Nation beach explained to me that it I didn't forgive you and something happened, I might have to live with the regret my whole life... She made me think"

"who is _she_?" Tonraq asked, by the look of it, neither of Korra's adoptive mothers, nor Asami knew about this

"Kylia" Korra whispered simply before she broke down into new sobs, Lin and Kya moving in either side to embrace her and Asami wrapping her arms around Korra tightly from behind

*

one happy little family" Katara squeaked from outside the door

"all this family fluff is gonna rot my teeth" grumbled another woman's voice, she and Katara had been watching through the crack in the door, well, Katara had been

"Aww come on grump, even you must see how cute this little family reunion is"

"Hmph"


	26. Escapes

"ugh. Fuck's sake this is taking forever" Kuvira moaned, without Kylia's waterbending it was taking them a fair amount of time to navigate the river and get to the town where they could stock up before heading south. "we need a sail"

"we'll have to barter for one" Opal sighed

"Or steal?" Kuvira suggested

"i don't believe we have much choice" Kylia admitted reluctantly, she may have been a sadistic murdering sociopath, but she had never stolen a single thing from anyone.

"very well" Opal grumbled, "if it is necessary for our survival"

"It is, both to help us escape those that are following us, and to get to the South Pole before we die from lack of water"

"let's do it then"

They arrived in the town at the mouth of the river at nightfall. Kylia stumbled around a bit before Kuvira took her arm and guided her gently. "thank you Kuvira" Kylia smiled

"it's no problem, Kylia" Kuvira had felt a spiritual bond with Kylia since they had started this journey together.

Opal sighed, "get a fucking room"

"shut it, O" if Kylia wasn't blind, she would've seen Kuvira's blush

"We're almost there" Opal wanted to change the subject away from Kuvira and Kylia's room, fucking or no

"Right"

"I'll go in and get what we need, you two snoop around the docks and try to find a sail"

"alright"

They went their separate ways but eventually met back near the boat a few hours later. Kuvira was metalbending the sail and making it float while also holding Kylia's hand. "would've been easier hadsisternot taken my bending" Kylia grumbled after she stumbled for the thousandth time

"Almost there, Kylia" Kuvira whispered calmingly

"thank fuck for that"

Kuvira picked Kylia up and lifted her into the boat before she lifted their supplies in. Opal had acquired six huge cans of clean drinking water, some fishing supplies and a little stove while Kuvira and Kylia had found a sail that, with Kuvira's metalbending prowess, was easy enough to take from the boat it had been resting on.

*

There was a flash of blue light in the cabin, "hello?"

"Agh!" Kylia yelped and jumped, having heard no noise

"Kylia?"

"Who's that?!"

"it's Jinora"

"oh."

"where's Kuvira and Opal?"

"They're outside prepping our sail"

"Would you mind getting them?"

"sure" she banged four times on the roof of the boat and both women ran in

"yes?"

"Her" Kylia pointed at the wall where Jinora had been

"Who?" Kuvira asked

"Kuv" Opal pulled on her shoulder, she span around and jumped back

"agh!"

"Exactly what I said" Kylia giggled as did Jinora

"Just checking up on you two" Jinora explained, "Kylia hasn't tried to escape?"

"No, she can barely go fifteen steps without falling over something, she's had her arm around Kuvira most of the day"

"Shut it, O"

"what?" Opal asked innocently, although her eyes flashed in an easily recognisable way to those who knew her well

"well anyway I thought you'd like to know, Korra and Asami got back to Ba Sing Se, met with Wu" Kuvira grumbled to herself, "who almost got punched in the face by Lin" Opal snickered, "for trying to hit on Korra" she noticed Kylia was scowling, "or at least doing something that _looked_ likehe was trying to hit on Korra. Think even Wu can see that Korra and Asami will be sticking together"

"it's a good thing I've got no eyes" Kylia muttered

"Oh no, Kylia you mustn't think about yourself like that!"

"Kuv is right, Kylia" Opal replied earnestly, she had to admit she almost liked Kylia, now she wasn't trying to murder them at every opportunity

"I'll be safe from him trying to flirt with me, who'd want to fall in love with a psychopathic murdering blind ex-Red Lotus member who had more blood on her hands than the rest of the Red Lotus put together?"

Kuvira bit her tongue

Jinora's eyes widened

Opal smirked at Jinora

"aaaanyway," Jinora continued, "Asami and Korra are safe" Kylia breathed a sigh of relief, a lot of her fear being dispelled from her troubled spirit, "but you are not"

"What do you mean?"

"The nations have decided to all work together to bring Kylia down, I don't think Raiko and Wu have even noticed that you've gone AWOL, Kuvira"

"shit"

"From what I understand of it, Wu pitched the idea to the other world leaders that they work together to bring the most dangerous person to live for eighty years to justice"

"I'm more dangerous than Amon, Zaheer or Unavaatu?" Kylia looked surprised, "I'm _honoured_ " her facial expressions made it clear she was far from happy about it

"They agreed. Earth Republic troops will be covering the majority of the Earth Republic's borders, except those close to the Fire Nation, the very north and very south, those are already covered by the Fire Nation, Northern Water Tribe and Southern Water Tribe respectively. The United Republic's borders are also closed. From the perimeter which they are working to close as we speak, they intend to cover every inch of the Earth Republic working inward until they hope to trap you, Kylia, in the Si Wong desert, from there you will be captured and taken to Zaofu to face trial"

"shit. They must've realised that I've never been able to platinumbend, not that I can bend a single element now, cos I can't thanks to Korra"

"we need to get going, now" Kuvira declared, "Kylia you stay here out of sight, me and Opal will get this sail ready and we'll try to leave the Earth Republic's waters before the troops get here"

"hurry. I reckon you've only got a few hours left"

"will do" Opal nodded and waved at her best friend before she popped out of existence once again

"that was freakish" Kylia grunted, "nobody's ever got the jump on me like that before"

"Don't worry I reacted the exact same way"

Come on, Kuv, we gotta get these damn sails up, and soon, since we've now found ourselves in a bloody race"

"let's get this done" Kuvira smiled at Kylia before they both went outside to finish with the sails. A few hours later, they sailed out of the river and on to the open sea, Opal providing them with the winds that works carry them across the ocean to the Southern Water Tribe

*

"You did WHAT?!" Korra exclaimed

"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?"

"I... I just would've liked to have been consulted, since it was my friends and family who were targeted by this Red Lotus psychopath" Korra had changed direction when Lin shot her a look of warning, "and it was me she nearly murdered"

"It'd be safer for everyone if that psycho is caught quickly" Wu explained

"maybe you're right" Korra mumbled. Wu was satisfied and he left the room that Korra and Asami had been in for most of the past day since their arrival back in Ba Sing Se. Korra exhaled and rested her head on top of her hands, "what am I supposed to do, 'Sami?" she asked with defeat in her eyes. "if they get caught they'll die"

"Korra, Opal and Kuvira are incredibly smart, they'll work it out" Asami replied calmly

"but what if they don't? What if Kuvira and Opal don't notice her fleeing? I don't want to lose her now I've found her, stopped her and hopefully saved her"

"I know, Korra. It's better that we keep their exact movements to ourselves, we will be returning to Republic City soon and from there we can sneak in to the spirit world and meet up with Kylia, Kuvira and Opal, if they're not where we told them to meet us, which may I remind you, not even Senna, Tonraq or Zu know about, then we'll just have to search for them. Together."

"she's right, Korra" Lin whispered, she pulled her fingers through Korra's hair, "besides you need to see your kids before you go through the portal"

"i miss them" Korra admitted

"I'm certain they're in capable hands, Su and her kids have so much experience"

"I know... Let's go home"

"I'll make sure an airship is readied" Kya hurried off

"let's leave Senna here" Lin had become much warmer towards Tonraq after he had apologised to Korra

Korra looked up at her mother before she hugged into her, her biological mother was still a sore subject to her and the flash of hurt that had crossed her eyes was, as always, mixed in with other emotions. Fear, anger, disgust, shame, and sorrow. She and her mother always had a good relationship but she hadn't even seen her since before she had nearly died. Part of her was thankful for the distance, but she was also hurt, confused and angry. Hurt because her mother hadn't made the same effort her father had, confused by her anger and ashamed of what her mother had become. "i miss her" Korra whispered

"i know, Korra" Lin replied

"can we go?"

"as soon as Kya returns"

*

Twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door before it slid open smoothly, "we have an aircraft" Kya moved over to her adoptive daughter and kissed her forehead

"thank you, mama"

"don't you feel at all guilty about slipping away like this?"

"no, not really, Asami" Kya had a mischievous excitement in her eyes the others hadn't seen before. "I've set up a 'distraction'" Kya added. Lin smiled just as mischievously, she knew any distraction her girlfriend came up with was likely to be loud, spectacular and unexpected.

"We have ten minutes before _it_ begins"

"then let's go" they quickly left the room, grabbing up what supplies they had picked up in Ba Sing Se the previous time they had been there and rushing out the back of the Palace. Lin observed Tonraq watching them out of his window but to her relief he didn't make any effort to follow or stop them. Suddenly, there was a large explosion out the front of the palace and Kya grinned excitedly

"here we go!!"

"Yup"

"Two hundred fireworks under fifteen man hole covers" Kya explained, the booming explosions were punctuated by clattering man hole covers that had been thrown off by the fireworks and screams of surprise echoed around the Inner Ring area closest to the Royal Palace

"Let's go"

Korra and the others jumped into the airplane and took off before anyone in the palace realised what was going on. "we're on our way"

"good. Comewakeus when we arrive at Republic City" Korra smiled before she and Asami hurried off

"Excellent." Lin smiled an evil smile which Kya knew was also a relieved smile

*

"Let us past, or else" two women were standing in front of a massive doorway, their faces concealed by oversized hoods

"i haven't received orders to let anyone in today" a man explained, he was blocking the women's path

"Get out of our way, or we'll force you out of our way"

"fuck!" he exclaimed while reeling back, he had just been punched in the face

"Now you can tell that dickhead that we punched you" one of the women explained, she pulled her hood up further and bent the door in front of her with ease. "after you"

"why thank you"

"let's get some revenge"

"This bastard is gonna rue the day he started his campaign"

"Let's fucking do this!"

All the guards below the ground had been pinned to the walls or floor by platinum while the two cloaked women walked deeper into the prison. One extended her arms and pulled them apart, tearing a massive hole in the doors between them and their target. "quite an entrance" a male voice echoed. "let me guess, jailbreak?"

"wrong" the metalbender hissed

"Oh..." he recognised her voice

"Do you know why we are here?"

"no"

"Good, then let us explain"

The other woman took a step towards him and growled, punching him in the head. "ow!"

"You're going to regret what you did, fucker!"

"what are you doing here?"

"We are collecting an old debt. A debt you owe us for trying to murder someone we care about"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't the one who ordered the deaths of your families _she_ was working independently from me"

"We weren't talking about that"

Another punch to the head another agony filled yelp. "then what were you talking about?" he moved to attack them

"Zhu Li, do _the thing_ " another male voice echoed, the man who was going to attack felt a sudden jolting pain and he screamed. "the power of a chi blocker at a hundred yards" Varrick moved into the light followed closely by Zhu Li who had a strange contraption on her wrist that hummed with power. "yours for only a hundred yuans each"

"cut the crap, Varrick, we'll discuss any deals later,if your new fangled chi blocker thingy stops him from defending himself. "now begone" one of the women hissed

"Alright alright" he complained while his wife tugged at his arm and pulled him out of the jail cell

"why are you here?"

"to exact revenge"

"You still haven't explained"

"You attempted to murder someone, someone we care a great deal about"

"Oh?"

"eight years ago"

"You mean, _the avatar_?"

"Yup"

"Who is she to you? Friend?"

"nope"

"Family?"

"Getting warmer"

"niece?"

"Nope, try _daughter_ "

"oh... Fuck" his eyes widened, he knew he was in trouble, a lot of it

"Zaheer, you attempted to murder our daughter and we are here to get revenge for that" Lin lowered her hood, as did Kya

"fuck fuck fuck" Zaheer backed away and attempted to float out of reach but he couldn't even lift himself an inch off the ground

"You're going to pay for what you did" Kya hissed, she moved in, as did Lin and Zaheer's eyes widened as the first of the blows landed. Varrick tried to peer through the quickly sealing hole in the prison door but his sight was blocked by the metal door, all that was left were the harrowing screams

*

Zaheer breathed his last, he had been subjected to a harsh beating which far exceeded anything he had inflicted on Korra all those years ago, Lin and Kya worked together seamlessly without hesitation to give Zaheer the beating of a lifetime and, after nearly two hours, his body had finally given up. Zaheer opened his eyes, surprised he could after he had felt his tie to the physical world snap and with it the pain had vanished only to be a bitter afterfeeling. _What a blessed relief_ Zaheer thought, that was until he opened his eyes. Zaheer had found himself in the spirit world, surrounded by angry dark spirits who dragged him to the cliff he recognised, "no... No..." he pleaded weakly

"Zaheer, it was made clear what would happen if you ever returned here. Now, enjoy your fate as you go mad for all eternity in the Fog of Lost Souls" the spirit hissed, throwing him in to the fog. He knew without a mortal form, he was going to be trapped in the spirit world for all eternity and he also knew he would never escape the Fog.

*

Lin and Kya pulled their hoods back over their heads before they left the prison, not a single guard had seen their faces and they released them from their restraints once they were safely out of the cave. Lin and Kya returned to the airplane which had landed softly so to not wake Korra or Asami after they tired themselves out while they flew. Lin and Kya were safe in the knowledge that any minute now the guards would go into Zaheer's cell and discover the mess they had made. "job well done" Lin nodded at Kya who smiled back sincerely.

"ready to go, ma'am?" the pilot asked

"yes. But as we discussed, if Korra or Asami are woken up, we'll chuck you overboard"

"yes, ma'am"


	27. Back in the City

"Mommy!!!" Yue yelled

"Mama!" Hiroshi squeaked

"hey, girls" Suyin sighed with a slightly disgruntled look, "hey, Lin, hey, Kya"

"hey Su"

"kids!!" Korra embraced Yue and Hiroshi

"mommy..." Hiroshi gently touched Korra's newly formed scar before he leaned into it and kissed it

"mama!!" Yue squeaked when she saw Asami's betrothal necklace, "you're getting married!!"

"yes, she is" Korra nodded seriously before Lin punched her shoulder

"Quit being grumpy, you. That's my job" Lin and everyone else there laughed, Suyin looked Kya over once then did the same to her sister. She pouted slightly and slipped away to where Bumi was standing and their hands touched briefly, exchanging something

Suyin sidled back to Korra and Asami and hugged them, the smile back on her face. "Su?"

Suyin sighed, "Bumi and I had a bet that they'd get engaged... Congrats by the way" Suyin pointed to Asami's necklace

"thanks... How much did you lose?"

"A hundred yuans" Suyin sighed, "but..." she held her hand out and Bolin, who was free from his bed even though he was walking with crutches limped over and handed Suyin a wad of cash, "I've made twenty yuans betting against Bolin"

Korra laughed, "sorry Bo, but it was the perfect place to do it!"

"I'm happy for you" Bolin exclaimed happily

"Shhh!!" Suyin whispered suddenly. Korra's mouth dropped open as did Asami's. Kya was kneeling in front of Lin

"I can't possibly match Korra's proposal speech, so I'm not even going to try" Kya began, "but, having said that, I've always loved you, Lin. The fact that we now have two adoptive daughters to think of was the push I needed to finally do this. I love you, Lin, would you care to take my hand in marriage?"

"Yes, Kya. A million times yes!"

"wahey!!" Korra yelled happily

"Damn" Bumi hissed very quietly, even though he was actually smiling. Suyin walked up to him and held out her hand.

"well done" he sighed and handed back the hundred yuans he got only a few minutes ago, as well as a hundred of his own

"Haha tough luck Bumi" Asami smirked while their kids jumped up and down and yelled happily at their family, united.

"Let's go get some tea, I brought a little something back to honour Iroh and Zuko's memories" Lin smiled

"we have got time, haven't we?" Kya looked at Asami and Korra who quickly nodded

"Good"

"we can probably stay until tomorrow morning actually" Korra whispered, scooping her two children up and hugging them tightly. " _they_ probably haven't even left Earth Republic territory yet. Jinora will be checking on _them_ later but that won't be until noon"

*

*

"can't believe they ditched us again, Katara" Toph grumbled

"oh shut it, grump" Katara laughed, "they're young and recently engaged

"and running off to Republic City while leaving everyone else here, wonder what those four are hiding?"

"wouldn't know, would I?" Katara smiled

"what if they run into Kylia again?" Toph was worried

"I have a feeling that she won't be a match for them"

"care to explain?"

"Not here" Katara watched Wu and the other world leaders discuss what to do with Kylia after they'd caught her, Zuko and Izumi's absence a source of great anxiety for the rest of them

"Ohhhh"

"What, Toph?"

"I'm old not a dotard"

Katara giggled at the word dotard, she hadn't heard it before but it sounded funny. "what?" she replied innocently"

"I was a detective yanno"

"yea, I know, chief Cranky Pants"

"that's Chief Cranky Pants _senior_ , thank you very much"

"whatever you say"

"Soooo, why are you only staying until tomorrow morning?" Suyin asked innocently. She knew they'd been in a fight, Korra and Asami's matching neck wounds made that readily apparent. She also realised Korra wouldn't want to kill her sister

"we've got to meet with a few spirits" Asami lied

"really?"

"yup" Korra exclaimed quickly

"alright then"

"Mommy can we go to the probending arena tonight?"

"i don't see why not?"

"It's the Rabaroos versus the Wolfbats"

"Might be worth a watch" Korra commented

"might be worth paying those refs off" Asami smirked

"I'd have to arrest you, Asami"

"Whatever mom"

Lin smirked and handed Asami five yuans. "here"

"if we wanna catch the start of the match we'd better get going"

*

"Tahno and his two teammates have been on the back foot ever since the beginning of the match, not one of them have ever been the same since that night, eleven years ago" Korra winced when Shaozu was hit back by a brutal attack from the Rabaroo's earthbender, Ila and knocked into the rubber surrounding the ring. She noticed Tahno's eyes widen at the mention of Amon's attack, he faltered before they were all knocked off the back. "and the Rabaroos win their quarter final match!"

"hold up there!!" Korra yelled

There were shocked whispers of 'it's the Avatar!' and 'what happened to her neck?' But Korra didn't care. "that wasn't fair!" she yelled.

"What do you mean?" one of the referees asked in surprise

"Shiro Shinobi unduly influenced the match with his commentary" Korra called back

Shiro Shinobi shrugged but Korra was relentless, soon joined by Asami and even Lin. Kya kept the two kids out of the limelight, neither Korra nor Asami wanted to drag them into the whole political side of things. "Korra's right" Lin declared, "that match was unfair"

The referees pondered for a few minutes, "very well, tomorrow we will hold a rematch"

"Anyway" Shiro Shinobi was deeply embarrassed, "next up Orchid Gardens Ostrich Horses versus Pinnacle Palace Platypus Bears!!" two rounds later, Shiro Shinobi called "it's a knockout!!" the Pinnacle Palace Platypus Bears had knocked their opposing team into the water far below. "the Pinnacle Palace Platypus Bears win their quarter final match!! Join us next time for more heartstopping action here at the Probending championship!"

*

"Hmph" Korra grumbled on her way out

"Korra!"

"yes, Tahno?"

"thank you"

"you're welcome. I've been there before"

"Your neck?"

"what?"

"is that from when you got that neck wound?"

 _Actually I was thinking of Zaheer but that'll do_. "Yes"

"What happened?" he asked, a rare show of concern in his eyes, "if you don't mind telling me"

"someone else tried to kill me" Korra replied flatly, making it evident that the subject was not open for discussion

"Oh... Alright, well thank you again, _Avatar_ "

"You're welcome" Korra smiled and returned to her family

"you know I'm proud of you, Korra" Lin said sincerely

"mom?"

"There was a time when you would've held a grudge against the wolfbats and would've more than happily watched them fail"

"I know mom... I'd like to say I've grown up"

"You have"

"thanks, mom"

*

The family returned to Sato Mansion, even though it still had Mako and Bolin's entire family housed in one wing, and Suyin, her family and Bolin in another, to Korra it felt really quite empty without her parents there. Korra and Asami's adoptive children were, of course, in a room close to the master bedroom. "i miss them, 'Sami" Korra sighed after they had spent over an hour reading to Yue and Hiroshi as a family. Each of the four adults would take on a different character while one acted as the narrator

"I know, sweetie"

"why can't mom just apologise?"

"cos she's a bitter old cow" Lin remarked

"mom!" Asami stared at her

"No, 'Sami, she's right. First they didn't tell me the truth about why I grew up in the South, my dad's banishment, then they didn't tell me why I had to spend thirteen years in that damn compound, then I recently find out they have kept me in the dark regarding my own suicide attempt! Then! Then I find out they have hidden my sister from me my whole life!" Korra had tears running down her face. "i know they meant well, but it still hurt, especially when I remember how Senna always tried to get me to talk about things after I was poisoned!"

"Oh well" Lin grumbled, "it worked out great for me and Kya though"

"Mom?"

"we ended up with two great kids"

"I'm just glad I forgave Tonraq, at least hetried"

"yes, Korra, I'm proud of you"

There was a flickering blue glow "hey"

"agh!" Lin flipped over the bed and shot her cables at the source of the noise

"yanno, that was the exact noise Kuvira and Kylia made when I appeared to check on them. Kuvira was only surprised the first time but I think Kylia nearly died of a heart attack the second time as well"

"Jinora" Korra smiled

"hey, Korra"

"How's the Fire Nation?"

"in complete disarray" Jinora sighed, "with Zuko gone and Izumi in hospital everything has turned to shit. Iroh has taken over the reigns here and he's ordered more military to go to the Earth Republic to hunt Kylia down"

"where arethey?"

"Korra, _they're_ safe, they've left Earth Republic territory and are on their way to the South Pole and should be at the Water Tribe by sunrise tomorrow"

"Good. That means they'll be at the portal by nightfall"

"indeed. Now, I've gotta go, I'm representing the Air Nation at a meeting in half an hour to decide what to do with Kylia. The other world leaders have begun to arrive"

"thanks for the update, Jinora"

"you're welcome"


	28. Sisters

"Ready?"

"yup"

"then shall we go?"

"let's go"

Lin, Kya, Korra and Asami snuck out of the mansion in the dead of night whilst everyone else was asleep. They crept through Republic City, heading for the spirit portal but were stopped in their tracks by a wall and patrols. "fuck" Kya spat

"We need to enter from the sky"

"Korra you think you can carry all of us?"

"how hard can it be?"

*

"oh no..." Lin was looking down at the ground, "please just drop me I'll be fine" they had ran to Future Industries Tower and jumped out of one of the upper floor windows

"don't look down, mom"

"now you tell me?!" Lin growled

"Shut up" Asami hissed and pointed at the guards they were flying over.

"almost there" Korra groaned, she wasn't used to supporting so many people, nor it seemed was her glider. It made a huge splintering sound and the small group found themselves plummeting towards the ground. "shit" Korra released a blast of air that threw the others through the portal before she twisted herself, and even though she had attempted to cushion her landing, she landed heavily on her back. She felt as if one of those purple Unavaatu beams had slammed into her before her vision slowly faded to black.

*

"w... Where am I?"

"Korra..."

"'Sami?"

"Korra!" Korra smelt something that was a mix of Asami's shampoo and perfume. "you're awake... You had a nasty fall sweetie"

Korra tried to roll over but she just gasped in pain. "ow"

"here, let me see it, Korra"

"mama?"

"yes, hang in there, Kor" Korra led there groaning while Kya had a look at her back and began to rub her healing water over it

*

*

"come on you two we're almost there!"

"did I ever tell you how much I fucking hate the fucking South Pole?"

"no, Kylia, I don't think you have" Kuvira grunted. "another Kylia whinge... And I thought we'd make it to the portal without hearing any more"

"hey, I've never had anyone to whinge to before. I'm cold" Kuvira couldn't help but smile at that comment, the girl who had been hanging off her arm was no longer the cold killing machine she had been

"There's the portal! Let's go!"

Kuvira grabbed Kylia's hand and tugged her towards the portal which gave Opal an idea. "hmm" she hummed, a wicked smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth. She had her camera which she had grabbed on her way out to meet with Korra, Asami, Kya and Lin. _it wouldn't be all that difficult_...

"Come on Opal! Stop grinning like an idiot and get over here"

 _Calling me an idiot? You'll pay for that one, Kuvira_.

"alright!" any debate about what she wanted to do was over

Kylia sighed a sigh of relief once she had passed through the portal and in to the spirit world. "aaaahhhhh" she sighed

"better?" Kuvira asked while she looked around the immediate area before forming a dugout for them to sleep in, they had left the boat and the majority of the supplies near the water Tribe's harbour

"A little" Kylia smiled, "still cold though"

"hey Kylia come over here" Opal called, Kylia stumbled to Opal's side who then whispered, an evil grin on her face, "you know Kuvy looks a little cold over there, you know the best way to warm someone else up?"

"No?"

"A tickle fight"

"really?"

"it's an age old tradition of airbenders, when they get cold they have tickle fights" _I'll leave out the bit about what me and Kuv used to say we'd always love to do with our future_...

"Really?"

"Yes" Opal nodded sincerely, _spirits if I can't get her to do it soon I won't be able to control my giggling anymore._

"alright then"

"Kylia are you... ooof" Kuvira grunted when Kylia jumped on top her and forced her back a few steps. "what...?" Kuvira's question was interrupted when Kylia began tickling her all over, on her sides, on her neck and under her arms. "haha, hey, Kylia... Stop it, that tickles, haha hey!" there were several inaudible clicks from Opal's camera. "Kylia..." Kuvira panted, feeling very warm everywhere, but especially on her face as well as somewhere else. "Kylia... What?"

"sorry... Opal suggested it" Kylia panted, "but it got us both warm, didn't it?"

"Opal suggested...?" _why would she... Oh_."OPAL!!"

Opal tried to look innocent but that was ruined seconds later when she snorted with laughter and her legs gave way from laughing. "brilliant" she laughed

Kylia and Kuvira didn't stop blushing that evening

"You're fine, Korra, it's only bruised"

"Right, let's go find the other three and help them set up camp"

"are you sure, Korra?"

"Let's go." Korra replied bluntly and with Asami's help she sat, stood up and moved towards the portals near the tree of time. "we've got a job to do"

"if you're sure" Kya shrugged, stood and followed Korra closely as if she was going to collapse any minute

"I'm fine..."

"Alright, Korra" Kya backed off a little but kept a close eye on Korra while they walked towards the Southern portal.

They had been walking for a number of hours when the portals came into view. "there they are!" Korra exclaimed and with a burst of energy, she ran forward, manipulated the spirit world and they warped to where Kuvira, Opal and Kylia were waiting. Korra could sense their energies as well as her sister's general mood.

"Korra" Kuvira sighed in relief, she had left the dugout to get some air, Opal's knowing stare was unexpected, to say the least, Kuvira herself was still in denial about how she felt about Kylia

"hey, Kuvira" Korra popped her back which remained sore after her fall, "is my sister alright?"

"ask her yourself" Kuvira moved further away

"Kuvira...?" Kylia called

"Kuvira's over there" Korra couldn't help but be amazed at how similar their voices sounded

"Korra?"

"I'm here, Kylia"

"oh thank the spirits!" Kylia ran forward only to run into what felt like a brick wall. "ugh!"

"Kylia" Lin said, kindly enough but it still sent shivers of fear down her spine and she suddenly found herself rooted to the spot "if you ever hurt our daughters again..." Lin began

"there's nothing we won't do to you" Kya continued, the older ladies were in perfect unison, even more so than they had been previously

"we'll beat you to within an inch of death"

"then heal you"

"and do it again"

"are we clear?" the two older ladies asked in unison

"C... Crystal" Kylia stuttered

"still got my present I see" Lin growled, gently touching the platinum neck band. Kylia nodded slowly, her heart in her throat

"Yes, ma'am" Kylia nodded slowly

"you know we've already taken out your old mentor" Kya had lowered her voice so neither Korra nor Asami could hear

"What do you mean?"

"Zaheer" Lin muttered, following Kya's lead

"he's... Dead?"

"uh huh" Kya nodded

"You two did it...?"

"uh huh" Lin just bobbed her head while Kya replied again

"Why?"

"simple, he hurt our daughters" Lin declared, all trace of warmth gone from her voice

"Korra and Asami?"

"Yup" the warmth was back again

There was a tense pause between the three, then Kylia nodded, "good"

"you approve?" Kya asked, surprised

"He and his sick order lied to me my whole life to turn me against my own sister, so yes, I do approve"

"It was quite the beating we gave him"

"And there I was thinking you were the good guys, ma'am"

"When it comes to protecting our daughters, there's not a thing we won't do"

"that shows how much you care, don't ever lose that"

Lin and Kya looked at one another, perplexed, they had just threatened this girl's life, and suggested that her death would not be pleasant, proven that they'd do anything to protect their daughters and she still had the guts to give them her words of wisdom. "you got guts, kid, I give you that" Lin had the faintest trace of warmth in her voice, but it was enough for Kylia

"I'm so sorry for what I did, ma'am, I regret every blow I landed on Kor... My sister" a tear ran down Kylia's face, "I'm... I'm sorry"

"Kor, your sister needs you"

"What did you do, mama? Mommy?"

"T... They didn't do anything... Korra... I'm sorry, please, forgive me for what I did to you, and miss Sato"

Kylia suddenly found herself in a pair of arms, strong arms. "i forgive you" Korra's lips were right by Kylia's ear. "you taught me forgiveness is important" Korra added

Kylia broke down in her sister's arms with Lin and Kya watching their daughter proudly, Asami was speaking with Opal but they were both watching the sisters reunite with one another. Kuvira watched from a distance, a blush on her face as she realised something important


	29. Beginning to Heal

Korra sat on the ground in the dugout Kuvira had made. She had Kylia in her arms and she was slowly rocking, trying to calm the quivering mass of muscles that had, up until a few days ago, been the most ruthless killing machine in history. More dangerous and more precise than P'Li or Combustion Man, wiser than Zaheer, more raw power than Vaatu, more agile than Amon and more adaptable and able bodied than Ming-Hua. Korra held her tightly while she shook uncontrollably, the horrors of her past finally catching up with her and her adrenaline supplies had finally run dry. After years of heartless killing, she had finally broken. "shhh" Korra kept repeating herself every few minutes, "let it all out, Kylia." Kylia had been sobbing and shaking for almost thirteen hours and everyone was exhausted, even Korra, but they all kept their vigil and sat around the broken young woman. Kuvira sat the closest and had occasionally held her arms out for Kylia but Korra had shook her head and continued to soothe her herself. Opal had crawled closer to Kuvira and was sitting back, her head on Kuvira's shoulder. Asami was sitting between Lin and Kya who were holding her hands and each others'. Korra had her attention focused solely on Kylia and nobody in the dugout minded at all, the poor young woman had been brainwashed to do things nobody should have to do for far too long. She had been all alone for many many years after Zaheer's imprisonment and had grown up in a hidden Red Lotus encampment deep in the Si Wong desert. "I'm here, Kylia." Korra whispered, she absentmindedly wiped Kylia's tears away with waterbending wishing to herself that her parents hadn't given up on Kylia or had just told her, so she knew not to give up on her sister. "Kylia, I'm here, you're safe" Korra whispered.

"K... Korra?" Kylia croaked, she hadn't used her voice in over thirteen hours even though she had been surrounded by people

"yes, Kylia, I'm here"

"I'm so so sorry" she sobbed a little more before continuing, "I'm sorry I tried to kill you, I'm sorry I made you watch me try to kill your girlfriend, which I'm also sorry for. I'm sorry I tried to kill your friend, Bolin, I'm sorry I hurt Wing and Wei, I'm sorry I killed Suyin, Mako, Katara, Eska and Desna" she sobbed a little more, her ruined eyes were exposed, she hadn't noticed the cloth slip down. Kuvira moved forward and gently retied it. "oh my eye cover slipped, who tied it back on?"

"it was me, Kylia" Kuvira whispered.

"Kuvira... I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you for a while"

"you're struggling... I know that" Kylia was amazed that someone who had spoken with such venom before could also sound so caring, so considerate and so tender even

"Yeah... I'm sorry I haven't hugged you in... Well however long I've been crying for"

"Kylia... Please don't apologise"

"Fine. Since I can't apologise anymore, how about a hug?"

"Now that I can provide" Kylia couldn't see the young woman but she knew she was sporting a big grin

 _Oh I do hope Kuvira's grins are dorky!_ _How could I not fall for that adorably cute woman? Looks, strength, experience and cuteness overload all rolled into one._ _Oh dear, Kuvira and my sister are crushing on one another._ _Holy shit. I bet my genius dad would've seen that coming from a mile away_ _Hehe looks like I'll have help getting those two together, no more lone wolf stunts like last night!_ _I don't like the look on Opal's face, she's gonna tell the others what happened last night...! Act quickly, Kuvira!! Kuvira_ leaned in to Kylia and lifted her out of Korra's arms for a few seconds in a tight hug

*

"If you hurt her, I'll kill you myself, understand?" Korra had finally got Kylia to go to sleep and was holding her to her body, Kuvira was rubbing Kylia's back in small circles and Opal was watching from a short distance away

"I don't know what you're talking about, Korra"

"it's obvious"

"What is?"

"you're interested in my sister"

"I'm that obvious?" Opal snickered, "shove off Opal"

"I'm just an innocent bystander, alright?"

"she got Kylia to tickle me"

"Really?"

"Yes, well how we'd spend our time was something we both discussed at length when we were younger, yanno before the whole adult thing of getting a job took over"

Opal was shaking, barely controlling her laughter. Lin and Kuvira had separated out the dugout into partitions and Kuvira had built it far enough underground so that no earthbender except perhaps Suyin or Toph would be able to find it, or so she hoped. "alright, well I suppose the lost little girl that's my sister could do with some love from someone other than her sister"

"I felt that Korra!" Lin's voice echoed around the dugout

"Shhh!" Korra hissed back "Kylia's sleeping!!"

"whoops" Lin sounded genuine in her concern, "sorry"

"How about that Kylia, you don't kill anyone and everyone starts to like you?" Korra whispered

"well what's not to like?"

"I'm no good on these things..." she noticed Kuvira looking at her like she was crazy

"Hey, you got Asami, right?" Korra nodded, "then you must be doing something right"

"Thanks, Kuvira... Just, she's my sister"

"I know"

"I'll discuss it with her"

"No she won't"

"fuck off O"

"whatever you say, _Kuvy_ " Opal used the nickname Kylia had given to Kuvira

"now now make nice, some of us are trying to sleep!" Asami was glaring at both Kuvira and Opal

"Sorry Asami"

"Yeah... Sorry"

"How is she, Korra?"

"out like a light sweetie"

"Good... You don't intend to stay up _all_ night, do you?"

"Well, Kylia..."

"me?"

"yes, Kuvira, you've been itching to hold her all evening, and all afternoon if I'm perfectly honest" she looked at Kuvira's blush and nodded, Kuvira reached out and took her from Korra. "it's alright, Korra"

"I'll be up again in four hours"

"yeah, _do_ whatever it is you wanna _do_ , I'll make sure I'm not watching the vibrations"

"Kuvira!" Asami yelped, Korra reached over and got dragged to the sleeping bag by Asami, she lazily lifted her hand and a wall lifted between their area and where Opal, Kuvira and Kylia were

"goodnight, sweetie"

"Goodnight, my turtle duck"

*

Eight hours later, Korra groaned and lifted her head, she had been exhausted by the time she had had with Asami and so had overslept. "crap" she made sure her girlfriend was appropriately covered then lowered the wall with a flick of her hand. She sighed in relief when she saw Kuvira and Kylia lying together with Opal slumped a short distance away. Kuvira had led herself down with Kylia still in her arms and they were now sleeping peacefully. "guess I don't need to relieve her after all"

"Korra?" Opal was groggy but she was awake

"Shit... I woke you didn't I?"

"I've been dozing for a while now, crack of dawn airbending training is kinda hard to undo"

"I'll have a word with Tenzin"

"It's too late for me, Korra"

"Is she alright?" Opal's nod further relieved Korra's secret bundle of fears

"She looks so peaceful" Asami commented from behind

"Sorry babe, I woke you?"

"Yes, but it's alright, I only went to sleep because my body was screaming at me for rest"

"ah right"

"I didn't want to doze off and leave you three, or two since I got Korra to come to bed, awake all night"

"I love you"

"speaking of love..." Opal began, she had that evil smile on her face, "what are we gonna do with the timid earthbender and the unaware demigod?"

"Kylia and Kuvira?" Korra began

"you're protective of Kylia I know but Kuvira won't hurt her"

"try saying that to Bataar"

"Korra"

"no, Asami, she's right. Something had changed in Kuvira back then, she had become cold and uncaring, but now, I think I can see the old Kuvira, the one I grew up with, the one who wouldn't hurt a spider-fly"

"Very well"

"Mmmph, Korra your arms are warm"

"I'm here Kylia, but I'm not holding you"

"I am, Kylia it's Kuvira"

"Oh uh well, sorry"

Kuvira laughed, "no problem"

"I'm... I'm..."

"Kylia don't start this apologising nonsense again" Korra's voice was firm but still soft

"I'm... Nevermind, anyway, I'm scared, Korra"

"We've got ya, we're not going to let anyone harm you, Kylia" Korra took her sister's hand from where it was on Kuvira's back and squeezed it

"I'm so so scared. I did so many horrible things, Korra"

"tell us" that was Lin, she was looking at the young woman in a very different way from previously, Korra and Asami knew she cared, albeit reluctantly

"You'd listen?"

"Of course, Kylia" Kya assured her

"well... Guess I'd better begin at the beginning..." _what should I start it with... Once upon a time? No, too cheesy. Twenty eight years ago? yeah, that'll do_ "twenty eight or so years ago, I was born, I was raised for a little while in the Southern Water Tribe. I didn't know any of this until recently but now it's the only explanation that makes sense, if any of you have information to add, please do" Kylia stopped and her audience all said yes, taking into account Kylia's blindness, "well anyway, I was taken from that home by two people who never revealed my true identity to me, because they wanted to turn me into a weapon to kill with. Ming-Hua and Ghazan took me from my home when I was very young and took me to a secret training facility where I spent a lot of time" Kylia paused, debating whether to add that she had been visited by the spirits in her dream, a very familiar spirit that had pulled her spirit form out of her body while she slept that night and caused it to be projected elsewhere, in the Tree of Time, "when I started to show signs of the four bending arts, Ming-Hua and Ghazan were overjoyed but before they had the chance to bring it to their leader's attention it became apparent that I wasn't who they had hoped me to be. The avatar. Ming-Hua and Ghazan vowed to protect me and help me train, they took me to their leader and told him they knew who the avatar was and that I was an airbender" Kylia paused for a quick sip of water, "he vowed to train me and so it began, the training was extremely exhausting but the four of them trained me themselves. That was of course, until they got locked up, I was only five or six and my parents simply didn't come home one day"

Lin took a deep breath, she knew what it was like to grow up without a parent, but she couldn't imagine knowing them them having them taken from you like that "that's some pretty messed up stuff, that they had a child back home and they still went after the avatar, another child, while risking everything they had"

"Thank you, Lin" Kylia smiled in the direction her voice came from. "i remember being so terrified of everything once my parents and the other two were taken, it didn't help that all the while in that encampment, the words I heard most frequently were 'Cupunko the Prodigy'. Eventually, at ten, ten exactly of course, I was allowed to join the Red Lotus. If anything the training became more exhausting even though my parents had me off to a good start, I had been training there for seven or eight years, learning the Red Lotus philosophy, learning how to bend, learning how to manipulate, learning how to torture, learning how to kill and when word reached us that the four leaders had escaped their prisons, I was ecstatic with excitement, I'd get to see my parents again after thirteen years. I left the encampment and roamed the world, eventually I found them in Republic City and they embraced me like they hadn't seen me for thirteen years but it felt like we had only been apart a day or two. They had a mission for me but after that they told me we'd all be reunited, I was the one they sent in to get the mercury poison" Kylia stopped, new tears running down her face. "had... Had I known the truth then, I would've used the poison on them instead" she sobbed quietly for a few minutes, again overwhelmed by flashbacks. "i...I killed for the first time that day, I retrieved the mercury from the secret Dai Li base under that awful woman's palace and took it back to the Red Lotus. I killed three guards that day even though I successfully evaded most. While I was in Ba Sing Se, Zaheer and the others attempted to kidnap you in Zaofu, then a few days later Zaheer forced you to hand yourself over to us. I was the one... I was the one..."

"take your time, Kylia"

"i was the one that administered the poison!" Kylia yelled and was overcome with emotion once again. "i didn't know who you were!!!" she sobbed, the horror of what she had done hit her once again in the form of another flashback

"Kylia" Korra reached out and pulled her sister into a tight hug, Kuvira yelping as she was dragged along with Kylia

"I don't deserve your forgiveness, I don't deserve anything from you"

"Bullfrogshit" Korra declared forcefully

Kylia cried for another three hours before she was ready to continue. "of course you broke free, Mako killed Ming-Hua and Bolin and Mako forced Ghazan to kill himself while you and the airbenders brought Zaheer down. I was watching the fight from a safe distance, Ghazan had ordered me to retreat if anything went wrong. And everything we planned went to shit that day. I got a close up look at your face, Korra, or at least I did subconsciously, because I tore my own eyes out the very next day." She paused when she heard sobbing, her sister was crying, she rubbed her sister's back calmingly while she continued. "I then set sail in my boat and disappeared off the face of the earth for many years, only returning to land to pick up supplies. Being blind, I had no idea how long I had spent at sea even though I'd managed to grab a large box of newspapers that I destroyed whenever I got angry. They all had pictures of you lot in them. I could sense the small rocks used in the pigments and ink and knew who I was destroying from my photographic memory"

"annoying my memory isn't like that" Korra mused

"Trust me, it's not a good thing. I was haunted by my dreams at night and was haunted by my memories during the day" Kylia wrapped her arms tighter around Korra. "after however many years it was, it must've been seven or eight in the end, I heard that some airbenders were local to me, and that they were involved in the downfall of my family, I believe their names were Ryu, Daw, Kuon and Otaku."

"the missing airbenders..." Lin gasped

"I killed them without too much difficulty" Kylia let another tear fall, "i returned to the ocean before I was found and I took down the White Lotus base in the south pole and thought I'd killed Katara, I took down Zaofu's security force, wounded Wing and Wei as well as killed Suyin"

"Kylia, Suyin's alive"

"Really?" Kylia's eyes widened in shock and relief, "but I didn't stop there, I killed Eska and Desna then moved on to the Fire Nation and killed Zuko. I thought 'blast his damn dragon' at the time but now I'm kinda relieved, it stopped me killing anyone else"

"then you found us?"

"Yes, and well the rest you know" she paused, "except from... Kuvira, you missed out on a dangerous group of people while you were stabilising the Earth Kingdom"

"Really?" Kuvira was immediately sitting upright

"yes, Slavers"

"Slavers...?" Kuvira whispered the word in horror. "my failure was total. I never even knew..."

"That awful Queen woman gave them the chance to prosper in her lands, so if the fault is anyone's it's hers" Kylia growled

"i want to set this right"

"once things have calmed down a little, we will" Korra replied. "we can't do anything until the search of the Earth Kingdom is complete, unless you want to die?"

Kylia was overcome with emotion again, another flashback threw her and caused her to spiral downward once again. Korra saw what she was thinking forming in her mind and grabbed Kylia tightly, "no, Kylia, you don't have to do that" her voice was barely a whisper and a single tear snaked its way down her cheek, followed by another, and another


	30. Life Continues

"good afternoon, Kylia"

"afternoon?"

"Yup"

"Oh shit, I'm sorry Korra how long have you been awake?"

"since before the sun came up, I left the dugout to have a wash but then I came back and helped Asami and Opal plan. We also received word from Jinora, they found your boat floating in the middle of the ocean and they didn't know what to make of it so they've doubled all patrols and may even be sending search parties in to the spirit world from the portals. Obviously each will have to be escorted by people intimately familiar with the Spirit World so they have employed the Air Nomads, who aren't best pleased that some of their number have been murdered, to start searching here. They're not going to go too far though so we have to start moving today to stay ahead of them"

"Well I'm not going to be much use"

"Kylia... Don't say that"

"Well I'm not"

"which is why I'm going to give you your bending back"

"Leave me here... You what?"

"I'm going to give you your bending back"

"so soon?"

"You need it. And what's a better way to show you've changed than to be able to bend?"

"Korra... I don't know what to say"

"I will be taking it again at night though, and returning it in the morning"

"Alright, Korra"

"here" Korra held her hand up against Kylia's forehead and they both glowed

*

Kylia felt herself reconnecting with her four elements, she immediately moved into an earthbending stance to extend the dugout by fifty metres in every direction, she then sucked the water out of the ground below her feet, purified it and turned it into ice, she finally raised her arms and a strong gust of wind carried the snowflakes to the others but those snowflakes that didn't comply with what Kylia wanted them to do got shot down by fire. "thank you, sister" she turned to see Lin and Kuvira at the ready then remembered the platinum band around her neck which she touched nervously. "stop" she sighed. "I'm not going to hurt anyone"

"glad to hear it" Lin eased in her stance a few whole minutes before Kuvira did the same

"Wait, Korra, where's mom and dad?" Kya and Lin shared a dark look. "what?" Kylia asked

"It's a genuine question, you two" Korra reassured Lin and Kya. "me and them..."

"they had a falling out, big time" Lin growled

"Why?"

"they betrayed my daughter's trust" Lin growled, she may be beginning to trust Kylia but she was nowhere near forgiving Senna or Tonraq

" _your_ daughter?"

"got a problem with it?" Lin hissed

"No, no not at all"

"Kylia, my parents didn't tell me about you and I don't think they were ever going to"

Kylia stumbled back

*

*

"one of these days you'll just have to accept what is done is done"

"fuck off, Tonraq" Senna had been in a towering temper ever since Kya had convinced them to come out of their room. Yes, she did what she had to do to help them fortify the mansion but Tonraq was the one who dragged her out of her room to get on Pepper to go and meet with Korra, Lin, Asami and Kya. She was in a towering temper with Korra for fleeing, she was in a towering temper with Lin and Asami for not allowing her to go as well even if the plane they took only had two seats, she was in a towering temper with Opal and Kya for concealing her daughter's location from her, she was in a towering temper with Tonraq for understanding why they did what they did. She was incensed with everyone, except herself. She knew they all thought the same thing, Bolin, Suyin, Kuvira, Opal, Kya, Lin, Asami and Tonraq, as well as Katara and Toph, she knew they all thought she had brought this on herself and she hated them for it. She had spent a lot of the time wondering around in Ba Sing Se after Korra, Lin, Kya and Asami had done their second runner, she had even gone as far as going to a hotel in the Middle Ring while everyone else stayed in the Royal Palace as Wu's personal guests. Wu now had to share his Palace with all the government ministers and whatnot but it was still big enough for him to host a moderately sized group even if his two favourite girls had run off all over again but Senna found the hotel to be more peaceful, away from all the staring. Tonraq had finally caught up with her in a place called Joo Dee's which was a cafe and bar. Senna had been spending a lot of time there lately, she was already totally hammered and it was only eight in the evening.

"you're drunk, Senna"

"so? Better than all the fucking stares I get, at least this way I'm away from that and all the whisperings" she paused then poked Tonraq in the chest. "you must've heard some of them, what about that mother of the avatar who had been disowned and left behind by her daughter after some truths about the family were revealed?" she stopped and swayed, "another!" she yelled, the man behind the bar reluctantly poured her another glass of strong alcohol and handed it to her

"enough, Senna!" Tonraq barked

"Fuck off, Tonraq"

"excuse me, sir, are you alright, ma'am?"

"and you are?"

"The Sheriff of these parts, sir" he turned to Senna, "do you want me to get rid of him?"

"Yes, please"

"Move along, sir"

"But..."

"move along, sir"

"she's my wife"

"well she doesn't want you to be around at the moment, I suggest you leave, before I'm forced to arrest you"

"She's my wife and she's becoming an alcoholic"

"Right, either you leave now, or I'll arrest you"

"Really, hoodlum?"

"I'll arrest you too Miss, if you interfere in police business"

"really?"

"yes"

"will I get to say what I have to say if I do get arrested?" Tonraq asked, interrupting the other person before they could speak

"You will be able to make a statement, yes"

"Then take me in, for this" Tonraq waterbent at the glass, shattering it. "at least now she won't be able to finish that alcohol"

The Sheriff moved forward and found himself being blocked by the woman who had called him out earlier. "stop. My name is Toph Beifong, you might have heard of me?"

"ah yes, the famous Chief of Police who invented metalbending, I would've thought you of all people would know about interfering in police business"

"And I guess I knew more about when not to interfere than you" Toph grunted, "but then again you're a bloke so..."

"so...?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand. No family, married to his job, right?"

The sheriff blushed, then nodded. "yes"

"then you wouldn't understand that arguments are part of being in love and in a relationship. Senna, Tonraq, may I suggest we return to either the Palace"

"I'm not going back there"

"or your hotel?"

"right, let's go" Tonraq nodded

"then once you're there, I expect you two to have a proper discussion. No more yelling and no more drinking. If you did this in Republic City I would've been forced to arrest you, Senna, for being incompetent through intoxication"

"fuck off" Senna slurred, her head fell forward and would have smashed into the bar had Tonraq not caught her

"you think he's the one with a problem?" Toph glared at the Sheriff.

"no ma'am, sorry... Sorry..." he quickly backed away from Toph and moved on

"Asshole"


	31. Cave

"We need to get back to the physical world"

"Kylia, we can't" Korra sighed, "you need to stay safe for now"

"fuck that... I've got my bending"

"Kylia, no" Lin was firm, but gentle

"but Lin"

"Kylia... We're safer here"

"but not here, we need to move"

"yes, we do, Korra"

"so where are we going?"

"Deeper into the spirit world, Kylia"

"I'm... I'm sorry. You all have a life and I'm getting in the way" Kylia's shoulders slumped, she was so close to breaking and sadly, Kya knew she had to break before she had any chance of getting better. Only one person knew that better than her, and that was Korra. She had broken time and again back in the south and it had all culminated with her suicide attempt. Even though it wasn't smooth, and it was an uphill struggle the entire time, the suicide attempt was the lowest point in Korra's life and Kya knew that Korra was only going to get better from then on. She hadn't had to explain this to Lin, remarkably she had understood immediately but had to reassure Senna and Tonraq all the time throughout their daughter's long and arduous recovery.

"I'm sorry, Kylia" Kya whispered, she was sitting behind Asami who was leaning comfortably against her. Kuvira and Opal were over to one side and Lin was lazily braiding Korra's hair while Asami and Korra did the same to Kylia's hair. "I'm not going to lie since that won't help you get better, you have a rough time ahead of you"

"what do you mean?" Kylia's voice was small and Kya internally winced at what she had to say next

"you're going to really struggle in the upcoming few weeks, months, even years"

"what makes you say that?"

"I've had to handle traumatic experiences" Kya replied simply, "but this is about you, not about me"

"you shouldn't be worried"

"But we are worried, Kylia" Lin had spoken and Kylia turned to her, "you're Korra's sister"

"So?"

"Kylia, there is nowhere I'd rather be than with you" Korra declared suddenly

"really?"

"Really really"

"i shall second that, Kylia" Asami had leant forward and joined the sisterly hug

"my, that family certainly has a way of pulling on your heartstrings, don't they Lin?"

"Yeah... They do" Lin nodded and replied quietly

"you shouldn't want to spend your time on this murderer" Kylia sighed dejectedly

"Kylia... We aren't going anywhere!" Lin sighed. She got up and took Kylia into her arms. "we are not leaving and you're safe with us"

Kylia burst into tears

*

Kylia cried in Lin's arms while Asami and Korra held a hand each for several hours. Kuvira sat up suddenly and looked up at the ceiling of their small subterranean cave. "ladies..." Kuvira whispered

"what?" Opal looked up at Kuvira

"We need to get out of here, people have just entered the spirit world"

"Right" Korra stood and prepared herself to fight

"I'll carry Kylia" Lin nodded, her tone meant nobody argued with her

"alright, mom"

"I'll go first" Opal suggested

"Yes, alright"

Opal poked her head above the ground. "all clear"

"let's go!" Kuvira cleared the path to ground level and they pulled themselves out of the hole.

"Let's go!" Korra exclaimed and she led the group in a random direction that led them away from both the Republic City Portal and and the North and South Portals. Lin carried Kylia, Kya and Asami walked close to her while Korra was leading and Opal was behind them to the left and Kuvira was to the right

"shit..." Opal whispered, "here they come!"

"let's go!" Korra and the others ran as fast as they could into the distance

*

"Fuck" Lin panted, her legs were cramping after running for several hours. "ow"

"Lin..."

"Kya I'm fine"

"No you're not, mom" Korra replied firmly, "let me take her for a while"

"I'll be fine, Kor"

"well I suppose we could hide in the spirit wilds over there" she indicated the woods she had meant. "since only Jinora has the spirity powers that allow her to find someone's aura or whatever it is she does, we should be fine"

"stop trying to make it easier for me, I'm a grown girl I can take it" Lin snapped

"Korra..." Kylia sighed once Korra had completed her warping of the spirit world, tears streamed uncontrollably down her face and her body wracked with even more sobs.

"Kylia" Korra sat down and rested her sister gently in her lap. "Kylia, it's alright, sister"

"I... I'm sorry"

"That'd becoming a bit of a catch phrase for you, Kylia" Asami commented

"shut up Asami" Kylia smiled a little through her tears though and that, to Asami, was something.

"you're going to be fine" Asami gently held her hand

"I'm sorry, Asami, I'm sorry, Korra"

"it's fine, Kylia"

"Korra... Why didn't our parents talk about me?" Kylia had shifted so she was looking up at where she imagined her sister's face was, the tenseness in the air was immediately apparent. Both Lin and Kya clenched their fists and Lin even growled her displeasure. Kuvira watched them nervously, Korra started to tremble and Asami wrapped her arms around her fiance. Korra took a few moments to reply, she was attempting to control her breathing and therefore dispel the rage she felt.

"I... Don't know, Kylia"

"May I?" Kya asked and when Korra had nodded she continued, "I believe it's guilt. And shame"

"Shame that they didn't tell me?"

"Shame that they managed to lose a child, or at least that's how Senna would appear"

"Those selfish little... Aaargh!" Korra yelled in anger

"Senna was worried about how losing her child would reflect on _her_ more than she was worried about her child?!" Kuvira snapped. Both her fists were clenched now

"yes"

"fucker"

"Korra, your mother not only wanted to keep it quiet to save face, she didn't want anyone to think badly of her"

"as I said... Her vanity and image is worth more than _herchild_?" Kuvira repeated

"it would seem so" Lin growled

"fuck that" Opal exclaimed

"i thought I was her whole world..." Korra whispered sadly

"You were" Kylia had put it together in a matter of minutes. "wewere. She must've loved us so very much, and then when those Red Lotus scumbags took me, your mother broke. She changed and started to hate they very memory of me, not only because she was scared about what would happen to you if word got out, but also what was likely to happen to her... She was scared they'd take you away, Korra. You were always the favourite. I was always just _the sibling_ , even before it was discovered you were the avatar"

"I'll never forgive her"

"Korra..." Kylia sighed

"no, Kylia. I forgave my, uh _our_ father, his intentions were honourable at least, trying to protect me from further trauma. She was just being selfish. And what about them not telling me?!"

*

"they said that was to protect you, Korra"

"But also for mo... Senna to protect herself though, right?"

"i... Think so, Korra" Kylia sighed

"She didn't want me to think badly of her and she was willing to sacrifice any chance of finding you to achieve that. Kylia, you're my sister" Korra began to rock her sister when the emotions took control once again and the flashbacks began to claw themselves into Kylia's mind

*

*

 _Kylia was standing in a massive cave, her four mentors stood around a girl who was chained up and she was carrying a bowl of mercury_ _"Administer the poison" Zaheer declared, Kylia's face was concealed from everyone, Ming-Hua hadn't wanted her to see this and Zaheer had agreed, he had wanted her to stand guard over the captive airbenders instead but Ghazan had offered her the cloak to hide her face. She placed the bowl gently into another Red Lotus member's arms and she took a deep breath. She pulled the mercury out of the bowl with ease, it floated and changed shape in midair at her bidding. Kylia felt a familiar rush of excitement take over her. The woman they had captured was strung up with platinum chains, her face hidden in the shadows and Kylia didn't have even a single inkling of pity when she forced the liquid metal through the other young woman's pores. She stood there while the other woman grunted, groaned and gasped in pain, all the while resisting the avatar state_ _'She's so strong...' Kylia thought to herself, the other woman then went in to the avatar state and deflected the four master benders' attacks. "shit" Kylia started forward only to find herself blocked by Ghazan who had leapt in her direction to both avoid the boulder and protect her from any future boulders_ _"Go" he muttered_ _"dad... I can take her"_ _"get to safety... That's an order, Cupunko"_ _"fine, dad." Kylia felt herself turning and running_ _Kylia burst out of the cave and stumbled through the area where the captured airbenders had been, she was so concerned about her family that she hadn't even noticed all the airbenders were gone. She made herself a tunnel which she could walk through and that would lead her to safety but she was forced to close her eyes when she broke out into the harsh sunlight_

*

 _Kylia opened her eyes after a few seconds, hoping it was enough to allow her eyes to get used to the sun's glare and was confused for a few seconds, she had got out of the cave but she was back in its darkness once again. "what the?" she managed to get out between involuntary grunts and growls that she had no control over. Kylia looked around and found herself looking down upon the Red Lotus leaders, as well as herself. She watched herself bend the mercury out of the bowl her friend was carrying and watched it head up towards her. "shit! Zaheer! Mom! Dad!" Kylia desperately yelled she heard her voice come out with different words, a scream and a jet of fire, "you killed my father!!" she screamed desperately. Zaheer's response was lost in the wave of fear she felt. She opened her eyes and watched the mercury get even closer, her alter ego manipulating it exactly the way she had done. The moment the mercury touched her skin she felt a wave of nausea. "this isn't real... This can't be real" Kylia chanted to herself but her mantra was stopped in its tracks by the burning sensation of the mercury being forced through her pores, she felt her body give an involuntary shudder with yet more groaning, panting, gasping and growling. Kylia felt like someone had poured boiling hot acid across the entirety of the inside of her legs and arms and the feeling of burning was spreading throughout her body. She felt tears run from her eyes and the sweat running down her forehead and everywhere else yet she kept on fighting, fighting the one thing that would make the pain go away, the one thing that may even end all the suffering. She watched Amon, Unalaq and Vaatu torment her but she still didn't give up. Eventually her body could keep it up no longer and she felt the burst of power course through her with a sudden blast of air that surrounded her. She heard Zaheer shout but her arms were already on the move and had broken free of her chains, deflected all of the attacks and landed in front of Zaheer. "aaaaaggghhh!!" she screamed, throwing the four massive boulders at her tutors. Zaheer dodged, as did the others except Ming-Hua who was thrown aside, temporarily stunned. As much as Kylia's body was itching to crush them, she saw Zaheer making a hasty getaway with his ability to fly. Kylia felt her body lift of of the ground, the flickering of fire lighting up the cave, she smashed her way through the cave walls and out into the open air. She and Zaheer exchanged blows for a good length of time, the avatar state dulling the pain of the burning to a low level ache that permeated her entire body. She used all the available environment for her advantage against the agile airbender, from an entire rock pillar to the waterfall flowing down one of the pillars, as well as her immense firebending capability even after she has smashed down on one or two of the pillars._

*

 _Eventually though, the effects of the mercury started to catch up to her, even with the full force of the avatar spirit sustaining her her limbs began to feel heavy and her head began to spin. She found herself losing more and more ground as the fight progressed into its tenth minute. First, her firebending failed and she tumbled down a few cliff faces that would inevitably leave bruises on her already burning body, then even after she attempted to airbend a cushion, she smashed into a rocky outcropping then a cliff that definitely did some damage, she felt something or even a few somethings crack inside her. Kylia found herself in free fall, unable to stop herself smashing into a few more rock faces and crashing down on to her back heavily with a sickening crunch. As before the avatar state sustained her body but it was quickly becoming exhausted, the poison and the mounting physical damage rapidly overwhelming her strength. She had landed heavily and was certain she had broken a few things, her legs, her arms, a few more ribs, she may have even fractured her spine with that last impact. Sure enough, she was unable to get to her feet in any kind of timely fashion and was completely defenceless when Zaheer moved past to knock her unconscious, or closer to unconsciousness with a few more airbent attacks and finally he moved in to suffocate her. The feeling of the air being sucked out of her lungs was like nothing Kylia had ever experienced. It was both terrifying and captivating at the same time for her to feel her lungs forcibly deflate and not be able to take in any more air, finally, the panic set in. Even though she was in the avatar state, she could not defend herself, her arms and legs were broken, her back was badly bruised if not fractured or even broken, her legs were completely numb and both dead weights, her arms felt incredibly heavy and her entire body felt as if it was on fire. The avatar state was fighting the mercury which left very little for her to fight Zaheer with. She felt herself get weaker by the second until she was internally pleading that it could end. "please, please, oh Raava make it stop" Kylia barely registered the wind pick up and she barely registered her body lift off of the ground. She had stopped breathing but was still conscious, just. Kylia felt Zaheer losing his grip on her and fall free so she used some of what little strength she had left to metalbend the chain around Zaheer's leg and tug him down with her. Kylia landed heavily on the ground and a few more things creaked, snapped and crunched, then Zaheer fell down in front of her and she collapsed. She looked up weakly using the last of her avatar spirit's strength and saw Asami looking down at her so she forced herself to attempt to touch her cheek in an effort to convey all her unsaid emotions but before she could, the blackness took her_

*

 _The final thing Kylia saw was Zaheer smash down from a distance then, from the same vantage point she saw Korra have the mercury bent out of her body whilst she led limply in her father's arms, but the combined duration of both those snapshots weren't even a fraction of a second's worth and Kylia was unsure if she had actually seen them or if they were just a figment of her imagination or her hypoxic brain_

*

*

"Kylia!" Korra screamed, trying to get her twin sister's attention

"Please Kylia! Wake up" Lin cried

"Fuck!" Opal ran over to Kuvira who stood nearby, white faced and immobile, catching her as she fell

"Kylia!!!" Korra screamed again. _This definitely isn't natural_...Korra thought, "Kylia!!" Korra gently shook her and rocked her, "please wake up my Star" Korra had no idea where the last word had come from, somewhere deep in the recesses of her memory no doubt but she ignored the others who were looking at her curiously, "please wake up, Kylia Star" Korra begged while trying to stop her tears.

*

Korra felt a reassuring weight against her, she slumped into it while still holding Kylia. "Kya..." a gentle voice called

Kya moved forward to take Kylia but Korra held on to her even tighter. "no!"

"alright, Korra... If you won't let me take her, let me check her pulse?" Korra nodded and sniffled. Kya placed her hand against Kylia's throat and felt a very weak pulse, "it's weak. We need to get her into spirit water immediately, she needs healing, whatever happened to her has nearly killed her"

"Oh Kylia Star" Korra was inconsolable, Lin took Kylia and handed her to Kuvira who snuck in a quick kiss while she thought nobody was watching and she and Kya both hurried off to the nearest spirit water pool

"she'll get through this" Lin reassured Korra. Both she and Asami were holding on to Korra tightly and Korra was relieved they were both there

"No bullshit mom" Korra snapped

"Fine. I don't know if Kylia will make it, but I do know Kya will do everything she can to make sure she does, and that's a pretty good guarantee" Lin smiled down at Korra who just continued to cry. Hopelessness, terror and sadness had taken control


	32. Journey to Despair

Kylia was still unconscious when Korra woke up after a short nap in which she herself had been plagued by the darker days. It had been two days since Kylia collapsed and she showed no sign of waking up. "Opal" Korra nodded then walked out to the main area that they had created with large walls of rock, they had all been taking turns keeping watch over Kylia but worry gnawed away at Korra. Every day, Korra would sit in that cramped and low room waiting for Kylia to wake and every night she would do the same, the only difference is she'd be led down not sitting.

"Wanna talk about it?" Asami asked

"not really"

"That's the problem, Korra"

"Fine!!" Korra huffed, crossed her arms and hugged herself, "it was about Zaheer and that time after Zaheer tried to kill me"

"oh" Asami couldn't manage much more than that for it felt like her throat had closed up and she was trying desperately to breathe and hold back the sobs as she remembered that dreadful day

* Eight years ago *

After Korra had smashed Zaheer down on to the ground and was saved from the poison by Suyin, she was tied gently to a slab of Earth that Kuvira and Suyin lifted up from underneath her and carried between them. They carried the slab of Earth all the way back to the airship which was several miles away, the sun beating down on them. It was a glorious day but no warmth was able to reach their group. The airbenders walked solemnly around them, a guard of honour. Tenzin was being supported by Pema and one of the other airbenders, Bumi was being supported by Mako and Bolin, Kya was being supported by two airbenders and Zaheer was under Lin's watchful eye. Lin was walking a few metres ahead of him, her metal cables wrapped tightly around the majority of his body while he was dragged unceremoniously across the hard ground by his legs. Zaheer's chin was knocked every few seconds when Lin dragged him over the rougher terrain without a single look back to see if he was alright. Tonraq walked right next to his daughter's makeshift stretcher and held her hand. Unbeknownst to Korra who was still completely out of it from her weakness and injuries, Asami was on her other side and holding her other hand, her vision blurry from unshed tears that only Tonraq had noticed. Asami's fear was at an all time high, she was more afraid then than she had been when the firebender had broken in to her house when she was younger and more afraid than when her father had nearly killed her when his love for his wife had been corrupted by grief and hatred. Jinora, Ikki and Meelo were all quiet and respectful of what Korra's possible sacrifice had meant, they walked slightly in front of Suyin and were keeping a watchful eye for trouble

"it's probably a good thing she is unconscious" Kya had come closer to them, the two female airbenders eager to help her do whatever she wished, within reason. They would always remember what Kya had done to help Tenzin protect them and they all felt they owed the waterbender a lot

"Mmm hmm" was all that Tonraq muttered in reply, the worry and fear also evident on his face. He thought back to when Zaheer had attempted this the previous time and he, Zuko, Sokka and Tenzin had defeated them and locked them away for life. Korra had only been a little girl at that time and therefore completely dependent on those around her, she couldn't even access the avatar state due to her complete inability to access her spiritual abilities at the time. Tonraq had been incensed when the leader of the White Lotus suggested that Korra should be moved to a White Lotus facility a few days after the attempted kidnapping. Even though he saw the reasoning and the logical part of him agreed that it was a sound tactical decision, he had felt it was an unnecessary attack on him as a father because it implied that he was unable to protect his daughter when it was only through his timely intervention that the Red Lotus were defeated. Yes, he had had Zuko, Sokka and Tenzin to help but he had been the one to face off with them four against one in the eternity that stretched out until the others arrived a few minutes later. Now he found himself back in that nightmare, only this time it was worse, and this time it was real. His baby was unconscious and critically injured, maybe even dying and they were hours away from any civilisation. Out of all the major population hubs that were close Zaofu and Republic City were the closest even though Zaofu was a good two hours away and Republic City was even further. It was through unspoken agreement that Asami and Tonraq kept hold of Korra's hands, if she was to die, they wanted her to be aware that they were both there and that they loved her so much, even if it was only subconscious. It did nothing to dispel Asami's terror of the situation she had found herself in, but she hoped Korra would be aware enough to be calmed by her touch if she did get weaker and ended up dying

Asami held Korra's hand tightly, quite possibly tighter than she should have been but nobody was willing or brave enough to tell her to stop. She was holding Korra's hand with her left hand and she still had her glove on her right, a nonverbal warning to all not to mess with her or try to separate her and Korra. "Korra" she whispered, "i know you can hear me, just, please hold on" Asami was relieved nobody other than Tonraq was close enough to hear her, Satos did not pray, plead or beg, normally. Asami had, in the past half hour, found herself praying to Raava to save her best friend, pleading the universe not to take her and begging Korra not to give up. "fuck!" Asami clumsily tried to wipe the tears from her face using her gloved hand but she wasn't able to, not least because the glove was too bulky and sharp in some places. Tonraq bent her tears away for her and she smiled a little at him, she quickly fell sombre again though when she saw Korra's battered face, the bruises were just starting to appear even though it had only been half an hour since the conclusion of the battle

*

"thank the spirits" Suyin grunted, wiping the coating of sweat covering her forehead away once she and Kuvira had put Korra and her slab of Earth down. Lin picked it up with earthbending and slid Korra off the earth with the quick use of metal from the wall of the airship. Luckily the airship panels were thin on the inside of the airship and therefore it could slip under Korra without moving her. Lin used the thin piece of metal to move Korra from the earth to a metal table, a bed would've been too risky with the extent of Korra's injuries remaining unknown as it was at that time.

"I'm going to start working on Korra" Kya muttered to anyone who was listening, "if someone would radio ahead to Zaofu and alert all the medical staff, as well as contact my mother and ask for her opinion and whatever assistance she can provide over the radio"

"I'll do it" Pema offered and bustled off quickly

"Fuck" Asami repeated her earlier curse when Kya pulled Korra's top apart, there was little time for Kya to worry about anything other than the young adult who was probably still dying so she had to leave it to Opal to clear the room of males and children, Kya wasn't even concerned about her own currently battered state. Asami bit back more tears and an overwhelmingly intense spike of terror when she saw that Korra's entire trunk was already a swollen mess of bruising as a result of the internal injuries from her battering and no other part of her looked any better, her loose fitting clothes were all stained red from blood but no more so than her legs. Her legs were mangled from where she had landed after her final fall, as well as any previous fall she had had that she had landed heavily on her legs. Not only were they severely deformed, Korra had compound fractures all the way up both legs. To Asami it seemed that anything that could've broken had done so, she quickly realised her catastrophising, although unhelpful, was most likely accurate this time. Opal had returned with Lin behind her, both of whom went pale at the sight of Korra. Asami expected Opal to rush to the open window but she hadn't expected Lin to be right behind her.

"Lin" Kya called, "Lin I need your help alright?"

"alright" Lin swallowed bile and walked back over to the mangled woman. Asami noticed Lin was shaking and her fists were tightly clenched

"Lin, I need you to be calm while you're helping" Lin nodded, "do you know how to fix bones?" Lin nodded again

"I could probably use bending" Lin muttered

"What can I do to help?" Opal asked

"For now you can gather up every first aid kit on this hunk of junk, alright?" Kya replied kindly, she was stressed but she didn't want to take it out on Opal. Opal nodded and hurried off

Asami winced when Lin flexed her hand and some of Korra's bones disappeared from view. "Ouch" Opal muttered, she had gathered the first aid kits and returned. From where she was standing and trying to clean up Korra's face, she couldn't see what Lin was doing but she could hear bones moving about and grinding against one another. Kya was busy trying to contain the bleeding but it wasn't going well

*

"shit. The internal bleeding is too much" Kya sighed soon after she had begun trying to control the damage with healing, a stony unreadable expression came over her face and she moved her hands into an unfamiliar position. "i have no choice" suddenly a vein was bulging on Kya's forehead and she was putting more effort into her bending than the others had ever seen before. Lin continued to work until she had got all of Korra's bones back in the right positions, she then took metal straight from the wall, passed it through the flame of an industrial torch that Asami had fetched a few times to sterilise it, dunked it in sterilised water to cool it and positioned it on Korra's bones, bending it in such a way that it would stay in place no matter how much Korra moved and repeated this process until all Korra's bones were set in place

*

It took Lin a while to finish off with the metal since she needed to do both of Korra's legs as well as her arms but she was still finished an hour or so ahead of Kya. In fact the airship was starting to descend for Zaofu by the time the latter had finished. "spirits, fuck me!" Kya breathed, her shoulders slumped but she was still conscious which she thought was an achievement considering the effort she had to put into what she had been doing. "Korra's going to live, unless something else happens" Kya panted, "I've stopped all the bleeding"

"good" Asami replied. _Kya is a bloodbender_ Asami realised, at this time though she felt nothing but gratitude towards Kya, Katara and even Hama, the original bloodbender

A large number of doctors and healers rushed in at that moment since the airship had landed. Asami was torn away from Korra in the madness that followed and she wasn't quite sure how, but she ended up in Tonraq's bear grip while she cried. "hush, Asami, she's going to be alright" Tonraq's voice was soothing and gentle

"Can you guarantee that?" Tonraq's silence was an answer itself, "please don't make promises you may not be able to keep"

"Otay, Asami"

"It hurts" Korra whimpered while the doctors finished looking her over and left, Kya sat with her while she made the water flow over Korra's body, "daddy" she cried, in so much pain and so weak it made Asami sick with worry

"I'm here sweetie" Asami had only noticed the sudden lack of warmth but hadn't worked out that Tonraq had at some point stopped cuddling her and gone in to see his daughter

*

"Miss Sato"

"Doctor"

"master Kya told me to come out and update you, Avatar Korra is going to live, most likely, but she is in a bad way. The poison did a large amount of internal damage as did the brutality of the attack, her internal organs suffered because of the poisoning and her heart, liver and kidneys are damaged, time may well reverse the damage entirely but we aren't sure of that yet. Avatar Korra also has some damage to her nervous system and as a result, she can't feel or move her legs" the doctor had explained while Asami had stifled a sob. "she has a large number of broken bones throughout her body but due to the ministrations of Master Kya and Chief Beifong, these should cause minimal problems, except of course her spine. We are going to guide Chief Beifong in fixing her spinal injuries soon but she didn't want to attempt it without guidance" the doctor looked at Asami in pity. Had Asami not been crying so much and paying attention to how the doctor was acting instead of just his voice, she would've been angry at being seen by someone at such a vulnerable time.

"t... Thanks" Asami stuttered and began to walk away

*

"Asami" Tonraq's voice called out to her from inside the room. "Asami are you coming in to see her?"

 _Coming in... To see her?_

"why isn't she rushing in?" Asami heard Korra's weak voice

"I'm going to go and find her, alright, sweetie?"

"Find her and bring her here, daddy"

"I promise"

Asami heard the door open and close again, she felt a firm hand on her shoulder and before she knew it she had been guided gently into Korra's room and was sitting by her hard bed. "Korra" Asami used all her strength to not cry in front of the broken Avatar, her broken avatar. "Korra I'm here now" she whispered and was immediately rewarded with a massive lopsided grin which Korra had managed to hold for a whole ten seconds before giving up and whimpering

"she's so happy to see you, the smile I got only lasted half that time, if that" Tonraq commented

"Asami," Asami was painfully aware that each and every word was excruciatingly painful for the dark skinned girl, "you're here"

"Korra" Kya's voice was a firm warning

"I know Kya, I know, I just can't help but smile, she's my oldest girlfriend you know?"

Asami blushed lightly at those words and she had her hand wrapped around Korra's before she knew she was moving. "hey, Korra" Asami had whispered

"Asami" Korra's blue eyes were pained, but Asami could tell it wasn't from her physical pain, "I'm sorry"

"sorry?" Asami parroted back

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to dispatch Zaheer quickly enough"

"oh Korra... Don't ever, ever be sorry about that." Asami told her sternly, "i am just so thankful you are alive and well today" Asami grimaced realising what she had just said but Korra's gentle expression showed that the younger girl didn't hold it against her

"'Sami" Korra whimpered, she hurt. All over.

"Korra, I'm here, tell me what you want me to do"

"Could you... Cuddle me?" Korra blushed, "i... I just like y... your cuddles i... is all"

"of course, Korra" Asami put her arms around the younger girl's neck and pulled herself in for a cuddle"

*

An hour later, Lin walked in, "sorry but family time is over" she grunted. Asami carefully extracted herself from Korra's body, it had been a one sided hug but still one of the best Asami had ever had. "me and the doctors have to try to fix Korra's spine before the damage gets any worse" Lin explained

"I understand" Asami took a deep breath and she saw for a second that Lin's eyes had softened completely while watching them interact.

Lin sighed, she and Korra were alone now. "you really had me scared, kid" Lin admitted. "you were so badly beaten up none of us thought you'd make it, except Asami. Asami thought you'd make it, whether that was desperation or not though, I don't know" Lin took a deep breath and placed her hand over Korra's

"sorry" was all Korra replied but Lin found herself not wanting to hear it

"Don't apologise for this, Korra, the only person who should be apologising isn't in this room" Lin glowered for a few moments

"Lin... Do you... Care about me?" Korra didn't know why, she just had to have an answer to this burning question

"Yes. I do. But this stays between us, right? I'm... Not ready to let people know I have a heart, yanno?"

"Of course, Chief Cranky Pants"

Lin bit her lip to avoid retorting and the doctors hurried in. "we need her on her stomach" one of them said

 _Straight down to business_ Lin thought bitterly, _of course these people don't realise that their 'patients' have feelings and people who care about them, typical coldness of people like them_. "i got this" Lin bent another metal plate and placed it on top of Korra, she then lifted her and spun her over on to her stomach without letting her body move more than a fraction of an inch in the process. "there" she removed the piece of metal Korra had been lying on and allowed the doctors to study Korra's back

"ow" Korra groaned when the doctors prodded her side above her hips, she had been completely unaware of the doctors poking her until they had reached that point

"complete loss of feeling from the hips to the toes" he muttered. "Chief Beifong" she moved forward, "you think you can bend these metal wires?"

"Of course, I am a Beifong"

"Then we need these wires wrapped around Korra's bones in such a way they'll support them until they are healed"

"alrighty, guide me through it" was the last thing Korra had heard, she had been anaesthetised and was falling asleep

Korra woke up four hours later, her back felt as if it was on fire. She gasped and yelped then a reassuring hand found hers. "it's alright, Korra"

"'Sami" Korra had whispered, slowly drifting back off to sleep. She didn't know it yet, but the older green eyed girl would be there all day every day for her for the next month and a bit, until she left for the South Pole

* present day *

"yes, that was quite a stressful day, Kor" Asami whispered kindly

"And agonising" Korra added

"Yes, it was" Asami still had a pained look in her eyes from it, even eight years on. They had discussed the whole chain of events once before but that had been soon after they had defeated Kuvira, they had both finally been ready to discuss the whole thing, as well as all the unsaid emotions

"I love you, 'Sami"

"I love you too, Kor" they both embraced and it quickly became a kissing session, Asami broke away before it could get too heated. Ignoring Korra's grunt of complaint, Asami helped her stand. "come on you, let's go check on Kylia"

"yeah, we'd better do that" Korra replied

*

They checked on Kylia who was being watched by Kuvira. Korra looked hopefully at Kuvira who shook her head dejectedly. "no change"

"Kylia Star, what's wrong with you?" Korra sat by her and pulled on her, pleading with her to wake

"will you two be alright sitting with her?" Kuvira asked, "i would continue but I need sleep now"

"we'll keep an eye on her for a while" Asami offered. It was the middle of the night and Kuvira was exhausted

"otay" Kuvira nodded and disappeared off to bed. Korra sat with Kylia's head on her shoulder and Asami at her side. Lin sat in her little room with Kya who was fast asleep, Lin looked to be meditating but in fact she was concentrating on the vibrations caused by Korra and Asami's voices, she was listening in on their conversation while trying to decide whether to go and try to comfort them

"what you thinking about?" Asami asked

"What we were discussing earlier, what else?"

* Eight years ago *

Korra grunted in pain, she was still unable to move more than a few millimetres due to her weakness from the poison, the dialysis lines that were keeping her alive and the pain. She had spent most of the past day and a half in a stupor of some kind. "you're awake" Asami whispered, careful not to scare Korra or overload her senses.

"Mmm" Korra hummed in an attempted reply

"how do you feel?" Asami paused, "shit, sorry, stupid question" she then lapsed into silence for a few minutes, "we are on our way back to Republic City" she stated

"Hi" Korra managed to force out

"Hi, Korra"

"I hurt, 'Sami" her voice was raspy and quiet. Asami touched her forehead gently, then wrapped her arms around Korra's neck

"Do you need some pain medication? Or shall I get Kya?"

"What's the time?"

"about three in the morning"

Korra sighed, she wanted to scratch her nose but she was unable to thanks up the splints she wore on her arms, they were in addition to the metal that Lin had implanted on her bones to keep them in the correct position. "ow" Korra whimpered, her bruised back sore from being on the hard 'beds' that she had been led on. She knew the metal was in her body, she could feel it but whenever she attempted to manipulate it, she failed. It was infuriating to her to be able to feel the metal but not be able to manipulate it. She eyed the bandaged wounds which Lin had made in order to get the metal inside her body and felt an overwhelming urge to cry. "w... Where is everyone?" she asked.

"in bed, Korra" Kya had joined them, she had been woken by their voices.

"Kya?"

"yes, Korra?"

"how... How did you stop me from dying?"

"Korra, I had to bloodbend you"

"What?!"

"if I hadn't, you would've died"

"You're a bloodbender?!"

"Are you pissed off with me for being a bloodbender"

"no, but I am upset you didn't tell me"

*

They lapsed into silence until they landed on Air Temple Island and Tonraq had joined them. "Korra, sweetie, how are you?"

"I'm fine dad, just wishing I could... Move"

"I know, sweetie, you'll be otay though, your mom is going to meet us at Air Temple Island'

"Otay dad, it'll be nice to see her again"

"she's looking forward to it" Tonraq smiled at his daughter, Lin and Suyin came in and smiled at Korra

"Come on let's get you inside the temple, Korra" Lin grunted

"and get you a bed" Suyin added

"about damn time too"

Suyin and Lin lifted her using the sheet of metal they had used before. When they had landed, the Air Acolytes had carried on with their business as if nothing had happened but they all stopped and watched everyone disembark the airship when they caught sight of Korra. _great, an audience_

Lin, seemingly sensing what Korra was thinking stepped forward, "carry on, there's nothing to see here" Lin warned, eying them dangerously and they hurriedly got on with whatever it was they were doing before

"follow me" Tenzin instructed. He led the four to one of the larger rooms on the island. "Korra can stay in here instead of her usual room" he declared. Korra looked around in surprise

 _It's certainly a spacious room_ Korra had thought, _just wish I didn't need to have it, I would've been quite happy in my old room_. "Thank you"

"Kya you can sleep next door" Tenzin called to his sister, "this room is one of the few that have an en suite bathroom and Korra needs it"

"Can I have the room on the other side?" Asami had asked, much to Korra's surprise

"no that's my room" Lin was blunt

"But Lin"

"Now now you two" Tenzin attempted to interrupt

"Asami, I want you to be in here, with Korra"

"W... W..." Asami was speechless. Lin smirked as Asami Sato, the poised, controlled Asami Sato came apart a little. She ran to Kya and cuddled her tightly. "get over here Lin" she said sternly

"me?"

"yes, you" Asami watched her and she moved over to join the hug, "you helped save Korra so you've earned yourself a close friend, like it or not"

Korra whined, "Korra?" Kya extracted herself from the hug and walked over to where she was lying helplessly on the bed, "what's wrong?"

"You all get to hug but have left me out" Korra pouted

"I'm sorry Korra but your back needs a few more days before you can even try to sit up"

"fine" Korra looked away, a dark shadow crossing her eyes. _Fuck's sake, what if I need to be held?_

"You'll be alright Korra, we'll take care of you"

"I don't need to be taken care of" Korra snapped, her stomach gurgled and she blushed. "but some food would be nice, please?"

Asami rolled her eyes, Lin smirked, Kya smiled and Tenzin hurried off after a quick nod. "Lin, would you mind going and getting Korra's clothes?"

"of course"

"Asami, can you help me give her a bath"

"I prefer showers" Korra complained

"well if you think you can stand under the shower without collapsing into a heap, please do feel free to tell us"

Korra bit her lip, "a... A bath would be fine"

"I'm sorry, Korra" Kya sighed

"Don't worry about it"

"no, I'm sorry, it was uncalled for and unnecessary"

Korra looked down sadly, _I'm helpless_ Korra thought, _I'm supposed to be the strongest person in the world yet I can't even give myself a bath_ _anymore_. "Kya, I need the toilet" Korra looked scared

"Ah"

 _Otay, now I really wish I had died_...Korra felt her face heat up because of what had just happened

"get her in the bath, Asami" Asami picked Korra up, wincing slightly

"Are my wounds healed enough to have a bath?" Korra was blushing bright red

"They should be... Korra you haven't had a wash since before you were attacked"

"trust me, I know. I probably smell, right?"

"That wasn't what I said"

"It's alright Asami, you can tell me I stink, I won't be offended"

"i wouldn't ever say that"

*

"Ahhhhhh" Korra sighed deeply when she was immersed in the hot water. She quickly became even more embarrassed by everything that had happened in the past twenty minutes though and even though she was led in Asami's lap, she attempted to look away to where the older girl wouldn't see her blush

"Korra, I don't mind" Asami whispered soothingly, "i know you need to be kept as close to horizontal as possible and I also know that if you were in this bath without me, you might drown"

 _Doesn't sound so bad_ "so honestly I don't mind that I'm sitting in the bath with another woman on my legs and her head on my thighs wearing a soaked top and nothing on my lower half other than some shorts. I don't mind Korra"

"You might not mind, but I do. You shouldn't have to sit in your best friend's bath"

"seriously Korra, I'm fine with it. Would you mind not moving, I will wash you as quickly as I can alright?"

"Fine"

True to her word, Asami had soon finished washing Korra. No matter what she tried she wasn't able to reach Korra's feet. _Guess they'll have to stay unwashed then Asami_ thought. There was a knock at the door, "we're fine, Kya"

"It's not Kya" Senna's voice called out

"Mom?"

"yes, Korra, it's me. May I come in?"

"yes"

Senna opened the door and hurried in. "hey, sweetie"

"actually, Senna that's good timing" Asami whispered, "I've finished washing Korra and Kya's busy with Korra's bed so could you lift her out? Actually, could you wash her feet before you do, I can't reach them"

"of course" Senna washed Korra's feet then lifted her out and to preserve what dignity Korra had left, Senna only looked at her face

"thank you" Asami took Korra back and awkwardly managed to wrap her up in a towel

"my poor baby" Senna whispered

* present day *

"Yeah that was certainly an embarrassing night" Korra admitted, "and it didn't get any easier, especially that time at Jinora's ceremony"

"I know, then the next day, you were gone" Asami whispered sadly

"had I known what I know now, I wouldn't have asked you to stay in Republic City"

"known what I know now?"

"Known that I love you, and that you love me"

"saying goodbye to you was the hardest thing I ever had to do Kor"

"I know, it was the same for me, 'Sami." Lin had come into the room and smiled at the couple. They knew she had been listening in but because they trusted their adoptive mother completely, they didn't even comment on it

* Eight years ago *

Korra, as she had every few hours since she got back to Air Temple Island, woke up screaming. "Korra!" Asami's voice filled the room but still paled into insgnificance when it was compared to Korra's shriek of pure terror. "Korra, everything is alright, you're safe" it had been almost four weeks since Zaheer had poisoned Korra and three and a half weeks since they had returned to Air Temple Island. Korra had made a certain amount of progress although it was beyond infuriating to her that she wasn't as far on as she had thought she would be by this time. Korra had hoped she would've been strong enough to at least wheel herself around.

"no, Asami" Korra whispered, "it won't get better, it's not alright, I'm broken"

"Korra!"

"I'm sorry, Asami"

"No, I'm sorry I can't help you get better"

"At least I'm not... Yanno, anymore"

"true"

Korra had had a myriad of different problems since her battle with Zaheer, not least her broken bones that were slowly healing. Only she, Kya and Asami knew about some of the problems she had been dealing with. Korra blushed thinking back to that first night and what had happened, even thinking about it was such an embarrassment to her. Other than that which hadn't happened again, a fact for which Korra was grateful, Asami still helped her dress, helped her wash, helped her eat her meals and helped her move around but she no longer needed assistance for the simplest tasks such as sitting on the toilet, cleaning her teeth or eating a small snack. Senna and Kya still gave her daily healing sessions while Asami helped her with her washing, a task Asami was more than willing to do. She had promised herself that she would always be there for her best friend and so far there had been no shortage of things to do. Privately, Asami was both relieved and a little disappointed that she no longer needed to sit in the bath with Korra to prevent her from drowning while Korra was nothing other than relieved, she had spent half the night up the night Asami had first clambered into the bath with her thinking about what had happened and why she felt so embarrassed yet still oddly happy about it. "I don't know if I'll be able to get back to sleep"

"alright, Korra, do you want to go outside?"

"Yes, please, 'Sami"

"then let's go" Asami helped Korra into her wheelchair and wheeled her down the long corridor away from her room. They passed many rooms, some of which were empty, the door open to indicate their vacancy, some of which were silent and some that weren't so silent. "it's such a long walk" Asami had whispered to Korra as they entered the kitchen area, they passed through it in a matter of seconds, Korra grabbing a piece of fruit on the way, they walked through the communal dining hall and out on to the covered walkway. Korra took a deep slow breath in when the cold of the outside hit them and let out a sigh that was just as long. Asami wheeled her to her favourite spot on the island and they sat there until the sun rose a few hours later

"Asami, I'm thinking about going home for a while, Katara has offered to try to heal me and my parents think it'd be a good idea for me to go home for a while, perhaps get me past this bending block I've got"

"Korra, it's only been a month since you got hurt, you need to take the time you need to heal"

"i know... I haven't decided if I want to take them up on their offer yet"

"Promise me one thing, that you'll do what you need to do in order to start feeling better"

"I promise, Asami"

*

"good morning ladies"

"Tenzin!"

"am I interrupting something?"

"Not at all"

"I've just finished Jinora's tattoos, she's hoping you'll be strong enough to make it today?"

"she'll be there" Asami spoke for Korra

"I'll go and tell her" he hurried off after a solemn smile

"why does everyone insist on treating me like I'm fragile?!"

"Korra..."

"no, Asami, it really fucking pisses me off!" Korra glared at Tenzin's head just as it disappeared out of sight, "Tenzin thinks I can't handle the strain of sitting in a fucking wheelchair for a few hours, Pema keeps trying to force a meal on me every fucking time I see her, mom... tries her hardest to keep what she and Kya talk about after every single healing session from me! Kya is constantly asking me if I'm in pain and if I say yes she insists on a hour long healing session even if it's as painful as stubbing your toe, which is nothing by the way!"

"we all just want you to get better"

"And Tenzin and Pema and Kya, as well as mom and possibly dad have been keeping the air kids away from me!! I miss Jinora, Ikki, Meelo and Rohan!"

"well you'll see them today alright?"

"I have only seen them once this past month, and that was last week"

"I can talk to Tenzin about it if you want?"

"slap his stupid 'be patient' response right out of his head while you're at it!"

"Korra... Korra... I know you're fed up, but you'll be on your feet in no time"

 _Fucking liar_. "i know, Asami, I know" there's _a good chance I'm going to be stuck in this thing for the rest of my days, very limited days if I don't get better soon_

"Korra... You're going to get through this"

"thanks Asami" Korra had looked Asami in the eyes to see if there was any deception in the older girl's eyes, to her surprise, there was not. _you truly believe in me? I'd still say you're a liar, even if you truly believe that, you're lying to yourself_

*

The ceremony was as beautiful as Korra expected it to be, but she couldn't feel any happiness even though she felt she was being a bad friend to Jinora for not feeling happy for her. The air smelt strongly of incense and had Korra been able to airbend she would've cleared a small bubble of air around herself even though she would've had to do it subtly to avoid offence. "Jinora, come forward" Jinora knelt in front of her father "Today, we welcome the first airbending master in a generation. And I couldn't be more proud of my daughter" Korra saw Jinora's smile and as infectious as it was, Korra couldn't feel the happiness it signified no matter how hard she tried. To Korra it felt as if she was trapped in an impenetrable bubble of darkness that no light, joy or smile could penetrate, not even a child's joy or smile

 _I'm drowning in my own despair._

"When the existence of our people was threatened, when the Avatar's life hung in the balance"

 _Spirits, he's making me sound like the defenceless five year old I was when Zaheer tried to get me the first time. Hello? I did defeat him yanno?_

"Jinora never gave up hope. Thanks to her leadership, I see a very bright future for the Air Nation."

 _Ha yeah, she's the future of the Air Nation, of course, she brought the airbenders back from extinction didn't she?_ Korra fought as hard as she could to stop the ugly snort of derision from rising out of her mouth. _All her, nothing about me_. At the same time Korra felt incredibly bad for the direction her mind was heading but she couldn't stop thinking along those lines. _I've lost the use of my legs, I'd appreciate a simple thank you, just those two words_

"Of course, there would be no Air Nation without Avatar Korra: she opened the portals and somehow the world began anew for us. And she was even willing to lay down her own life in order to protect ours. There's no way we can ever repay her for all she's done."

 _Not completely forgotten like a broken glider would've been after all?_

"But we can follow her example of service and sacrifice"

 _I never wanted to be a cripple, i do wonder if I would've acted differently had I been aware what Zaheer wanted to do to me? Yes, I've always wanted to be the avatar, but I've never wanted to be a uselessly crippled avatar, better to be dead than the laughing stock of the world_

"So while she recuperates, the Air Nation will reclaim its nomadic roots and roam the earth. But unlike our ancestors, we will serve people of all nations, working wherever there is corruption and discord to restore balance and peace"

 _Yep, the Air Nation will replace me. They are many, I am only one. For all my former power, I can't possibly compete with a whole nation._

"Avatar Korra, I vow that we will do everything in our power to follow in your footsteps and bring harmony to the world" Tenzin bowed to Korra as he spoke

 _Don't call me that, I'm no longer worthy of that title, I'm a cripple and may never be worthy of that title again. You'll replace the useless crippled girl, yeah I get it. I'm not needed anymore, got that the first time. Ugh why am I even bowing to this pompous man?_ Korra frowned, _stop it Korra, he's your friend and your mentor, he has always been there to help you_ Korra found herself struggling not to laugh again, _like when he took you from your parents and locked you away from the world to keep you safe from four imprisoned terrorists_

"Now, let us anoint the master who will help lead us in our new path." Tenzin removed Jinora's hood and smiled proudly at his daughter, she stood up and there was a jingling of wind chimes

Korra, unable to comprehend the joy that surrounded her, sat there immobile. She just stared into the distance and hadn't even noticed the tear that ran down her face because _she was so caught up in her own mind.Yes, you'll do a far better job of keeping peace than me, Jinora. All I've ever done is create chaos and war. I trusted Unalaq which meant I lost the avatar cycle's post lives, beloved Aang included. Perfect worshipped Aang, gone. I'm just glad that's not common knowledge, I'd probably be history's most hated avatar then. As well as that another result of trusting Unalaq was Zaheer gaining airbending and nearly killing every airbender on the planet as well as having crippled me so yeah, it's probably a good thing that I'm now too crippled to carry on. I only wish I could be left to die in peace without being dragged out in front of everyone I've ever known as a helpless cripple. I'm a cripple. I should've died. I'm a shit avatar. I hate myself_. Korra felt a feeling she had only felt once before and she blushed profusely, hoping with every fibre of her being that nobody had noticed, she repeated the mantra she had been thinking for the past few minutes but added another thought on to the end as a result of what had just happened. _I'm a cripple. I should've died. I'm a shit avatar. I hate myself. **I want to die**_

* present day *

Oh Korra, come here!" Asami was futily wiping her face and trying to stem the flow of tears running down her face, in Korra's lap led her twin who was still unresponsive.

 _I failed again, I failed to protect her, my own twin sister_

"Kor" Lin hugged Korra tightly from one side while Asami hugged her from the other. "I'm so so sorry you were feeling like that. Now I understand completely why you tried to end your life, I had no idea _Tenzin_ " she spat the word out as if it were bile "had made you feel so useless and made you loathe yourself even more, but now I wonder why I didn't notice beforehand, I'm sorry, Kor"

"no, I'm sorry mom"

"no reason to be. The only people who should be sorry are Zaheer, Ghazan, Ming-Hua, Senna and Tenzin!" Lin scowled and punched the rock wall to her side which cracked under the force, "they should be disgusted with themselves, but the worst part is easily that Tenzin and Senna didn't even realise what they were doing was wrong!!"

They became silent, a comfortable silence remained over them until morning, a comfortable silence that came from mutual efforts to comfort each other, each woman was trying to comfort the other two as well as the complete trust they all shared in one another


	33. Six Years Ago

A/N: Trigger warning

"Korra, you were so strong"

"no I wasn't, I broke nearly every day"

"tell us"

* Seven years ago *

Korra was sat on the balcony of her room, she was finally given the go ahead to be able to wheel herself around a number of months ago. She had been home for nearly a year and in that time there had been endless nightmares, flashbacks and crying, the former two had started a few weeks after she had arrived and the latter had started a few days after she had arrived. She always held it together and acted as if everything was fine whenever her parents, Katara or anyone else were around but when she was on her own she had cried nearly constantly. She hadn't really set foot outside her room or balcony other than for healing sessions because she still didn't have the strength to walk far. She wasn't really eating, sleeping or smiling and was still dependent on the wheelchair, or other people who had to carry her if the snow was too deep which it often was, for journeys of more than about twenty metres such as the journey to and from Katara's healing huts in the White Lotus compound. To begin with she couldn't get down to the dining hall on her own without utterly exhausting herself so she rarely bothered. her mind had been a constant war ever since she had had the first flashbacks. furthermore for the first few months she could barely get to her parents' room although she had spent a few nights sitting sleeping in the wheelchair at the end of their bed having exhausted herself trying to get herself there. Senna had also spent a few nights sleeping against Naga in Korra's room when Korra had first arrived back in the south because of lingering concerns regarding her kidneys and heart, the dialysis had done its job though and these concerns had soon dissipated.

After the worry about her heart and kidneys was resolved and once she had begun healing sessions with Katara, Korra was left alone, her parents were giving her all the space she could ask for and she had accidentally discovered something a few nights before she found herself on the balcony. Korra was trying to get from her wheelchair to the bed when she slipped and fell face first on to her bed, her arm flailed when she attempted to stop herself and caught her wheelchair at a wrong angle. Korra hissed in pain, she looked at her arm once she had rolled herself over with some effort and found a small amount of blood running down her wrist. Mesmerised by it, she watched it run all the way down her arm to her elbow and in that moment, the combination of both the sight and feeling of the blood as well as the pain, she found a calm she hadn't felt for a long time. It didn't take her long to desire the same calm so a few nights later she had, once she was sure everyone was asleep, shakily walked from her bed to her wheelchair, slumped into it and wheeled herself to the kitchen where she picked up everything she needed. She knew she was no longer having routine healing sessions with Katara so she knew she was relatively safe from discovery so long as she was sensible. Korra still couldn't bend but she had everything she would need to do what she was going to do. Korra sat on the balcony in her wheelchair as she had after her first flashback, the mildly cold night air of the spring night feeling a lot more hospitable than it had even a few nights before. She breathed in deeply and placed the blade she had taken on her arm and pulled it across, Korra breathed a sigh of relief,it _still_ worksshe then sighed again and finally smiled

* Present day *

"Korra!!" Lin was crushing Korra she was holding her so tight

"m... M... Can...t breathe" Korra stuttered

"sorry" Lin loosened her arms but continued to hold Korra against her chest

Kya and Opal burst in and ran over to also hold Korra who was sobbing away, Kuvira had warned them having discovered it with her seismic sense and they had quickly hurried off to hold one of their best friends. "Korra... We're here" Opal soothed

"Yes, Korra, we care" Kya gently rubbed her back

"my beautiful daughter, I hope we can help you never feel like that again" Lin whispered to her to general assent

*

"is she alright?" Kuvira called from where she was stuck under Kylia's dead weight

"she's fine" Kya called, "just a little upset"

"I think we ought to leave them in peace" Opal muttered, "whatever it is they're discussing needs to be discussed through to the end and it's probably better we learn the whole story at a time when it isn't so painful, for any of them"

Kya nodded, she kissed Lin and Korra's cheeks then walked out with Opal who had given Asami who was nearly as tearful as Korra, a huge hug and some gentle words of encouragement and support

"Come on Korra, you're doing great" Asami encouraged once they had left

"Alright"

* Six years ago *

After that, Korra's life became a whirlwind of façades, nightmares, flashbacks, physiotherapy, meditation, training and self-harm. After Tenzin had visited her a few months short of her second year of being back at home, she fell into a deeper pit of despair and depression that she was completely trapped in, unable to get out for even a few seconds. She had failed in her firebending demonstration, a task that her younger self would've been able to do blindfolded and with both her arms and legs tied together. she had hoped the demonstration would help her garner support for her to return to Republic City where she could then go on to the Earth Kingdom to help Kuvira regain control of the chaotic Earth Kingdom. With this final blow to her self-worth and dignity for she hadn't just been beaten, she had humiliated herself by collapsing under a flashback of Zaheer and hadn't got hurt only because Tenzin called off the attacking White Lotus sentries, the progress she had made mentally completely collapsed and she fell back into her old mantra of self-hate. She had been free from self-harm since she had regained her ability to bend all four elements even if she hadn't regained access to the avatar state. This time however, the mantra was absolute. She had never given her parents any reason to suspect that she had been a self-harmer even when she hadn't had her healing, she was careful. But now, she didn't care, she wanted to die even more than she had thought possible, while she had had fleeting thoughts of suicide, those were normally right after something really embarrassing had happened like on her first night after she had been poisoned or towards the end of Jinora's ceremony and hadn't ever lasted more than five or ten minutes. This time, the thoughts just wouldn't stop, the mantra would cycle in her head over and over without end or respite, _I am a helpless cripple. I should've died. I'm a shit avatar. I hate myself. **I want to die**_. Korra had made her mind up at dinner that night, that if the thoughts hadn't gone by midnight, she would end her life, she had given her head five hours to sort itself out. She knew the avatar cycle was safe and she knew that everyone would be happier without a crippled avatar around that needed constant assistance so she had accepted her decision in her heart almost immediately.

*

At five past midnight, Korra was up on her feet and walking cautiously towards the rear of the palace where she could slip away. She was taking the wheelchair with her because she wanted to burn the damned thing before she took her life. Subconsciously that was a last ditch effort to save herself but her conscious mind wouldn't accept it. By ten past she was out of the door and in the cold vast wasteland that she had once called home. By half past three she had put a good distance between herself and the palace and by half past four, the wheelchair was a mangled mess of metal and burnt fabrics. She had caught sight of the Future Industries logo but she loathed that wheelchair so much that not even that stopped her destroying it. She had sent a letter to Asami earlier in the day, fully aware that that would be the last time she ever spoke to the gorgeous older girl and as such she had encoded a secret goodbye message in the letter. She knew Asami would scrutinise the letter once she had received the news about her death, that was just Asami's nature and she knew Asami would probably find it in a matter of minutes. Korra sighed, she was in a reasonably dark cave that was surprisingly warm considering the fact that it was a winter night. Only Korra's innate abilities had kept her from freezing in the frigid temperatures while she crossed the snowy wasteland. She didn't want to be discovered alive or dead, but especially the former so she allowed her abilities to sustain her and she had become so used to the cold she didn't even bother sealing the cave entrance behind her. She had got to work setting up the stuff she'd need to die before she turned her attention to the wheelchair and reduced it to a mangled mess. She then sat and meditated for a few hours and finally, knowing her parents would be getting up very soon, she made her move. She readied herself with a few deep breaths while watching the ghastly apparition of herself anxiously, expecting it to attack. Then, in less than the time it took her to swear she had sliced through skin, muscles and blood vessels in both of her legs and arms with massive ice blades that were as long as her hand and sharper than any metal blade. She had sworn at the new intensity of these new feelings of agony since this went beyond any kind of pain she had felt before except that of her back after the battle with Zaheer. She took comfort knowing that it would soon be over, she sighed when she felt the blood pouring down her arms and legs, she swayed and in a few seconds was unconscious and swinging. The apparition disappeared when her eyes shut but before they did, the apparition looked as if it was smiling, _it must've wanted me to end my suffering_ was Korra's final fully conscious thought, the weakness becoming too overwhelming for her to stay awake. "Asami" she breathed, then she was gone

* Present day *

And that's all I remember" Korra grunted, "until I got those memories back all I remembered was waking up in my bed having not realised how much time had passed until I rediscovered those memories. A few weeks after I woke I left the South Pole and began roaming the world. I tried to return to Republic City but my Shadow self wouldn't let me so I wandered the worlds, trying to find myself, find answers and find Raava"

"oh, Korra... Sweetie" Asami cried endless tears, Lin was also crying openly. She would never even try hiding her true emotions from her daughters

"I'm so so sorry" Lin whispered between shuddering breaths

"I wish I had insisted on coming to the Water Tribe with you now, maybe this wouldn't have ever happened

"Asami, do you have the letter?"

"The one you sent me? Of course I never go anywhere without it"

"Can I borrow a pen and another piece of paper?"

"sure? But why?"

"So you can read my letter, the real one"

"oh" Asami was looking astounded.

Korra took the letter from Asami, copied it word for word and then began decoding it. Asami was surprised Korra was able to move through it so quickly,but she was the one to write it, _she's decoding it for my benefi_ t Asami had realised when Korra handed the annotated letter back as well as the original. On the second sheet of paper there was two lots of writing, one was a heavily annotated copy of the original letter and the other was the resulting hidden letter

*

 _My Dearest Asami_

Asami had read

 _By the time you are reading this letter within my other letter, I will probably be dead_ _It is with a heavy heart that I have slowly come to the decision to kill myself after I failed in my firebending demonstration for Tenzin. I fear I will never be the same again and I wish I could tell you everything I want to tell you face to face but I am running out of time and if you asked me to stay in this world I would do so without a second thought. I wanted to tell you that I know you deserve better than me as a best friend because I'm leaving you but you mean the world to me Asami and not just because you were there for me and were eager to help me in any way you could. You were there for me after those horrific surgeries, when I needed all those baths with someone in there with me you volunteered before I had even said anything, especially after that embarrassing first night. I had no control over any part of my body really and as a result I pissed myself while fully clothed, it was a wonderful blessing to me that you were still willing to clamber in the bath with me and help me even after that. Asami, I will forever be in your debt for all the times you selflessly helped me, that first bath and after Jinora's ceremony were just two examples in an endless list of everything you did for me. Because of this debt, I am going to get myself out of your hair and give you the freedom you deserve to do whatever it is you want. I know this act won't wipe the slate clean, not even close since I will always be in your debt for all eternity, but I can always send my replacement your way once he or she is old enough to reach out to me and you can continue to be near me by proxy. My greatest regret is that I won't be able to grow old with you and be friends (or perhaps more) with you for the rest of our lives. Asami, I love you_ _With so much love and sorrow,_

 _Korra_

*

Asami bit back a sob and held the two pieces of paper to her chest, tears streaming down her face. She handed Lin the sheets before she curled up on the floor and cried. Korra moved closer and picked her up, rocking her gently in her arms. "y... You're still here" Asami croaked and reached out to touch Korra's face, after what she had read she had to reassure herself that Korra was really there. Lin let out a choked sob, she had just finished the letter and she was trying to control her breathing and crying. "oh mom" Asami sighed

"let's do this together" Lin had replied

"Yup"

They both turned to Korra and enveloped her in their arms, "promise you will tell us if you ever feel like doing anything like this again"

"I will, mom"

"swear on it" Asami put her hand on Korra's cheek

"I do." Korra nodded, "i swear on your life and everything else I hold dear to never hide anything from you two again"

"Thank you, Korra" Asami wiped her eyes dry and turned to Lin, "presumably you can pick up the narrative from there?"

"Yup" Lin sighed, "you two, and Kya, are my whole world. I love all three of you"

"We know, mom"

* Six years ago *

Lin was sitting in her room, she was on her airship hunting for a Red Lotus member who could kill without mercy and disappear immediately afterwards. The Chief of Police didn't have much to go on but then again this woman seemed to be a ghost the way she flitted between being there and falling off the world again, all Lin knew for sure was that she was female and that she had long black hair that was filthy. She had received some reports that the woman was blind which would explain her inability to take care of her hair but she didn't even have the woman's age or name. She had followed a lead that had led her to one of the southernmost islands before the icy tundra of the South Pole when she received a radio signal from Republic City that had been retransmitted several times to get to her by places like Omashu and Gaoling. "go ahead?"

"Emergency request for assistance from the Southern Water Tribe, Chief"

"The Water Tribe?" _that's where Korra is!!_ "why what's happened?"

"Apparently the Chief's daughter has gone walkabouts"

 _NO! KORRA!_ "Shit!!" Lin slammed her fist into the wall which deformed at her touch, "I'm on my way there now"

"Of course"

*

Lin had taken control of the airship herself and had ordered the few officers that she was with to go and reinforce the airship's structure using their metalbending as she took the craft to its limits and beyond. Due to her pushing the airship she got to the Water Tribe within a couple of hours and it was barely half seven. She rushed out to meet with Senna and Tonraq having landed the airship outside the palace. "Lin! We didn't expect you" Tonraq muttered but his smile didn't reach his eyes

"What happened?"

"Korra's gone missing" Lin felt her terror catch up with her

"where have you looked?"

"everywhere in the palace, she's not in there nor is she in the city"

"i will find her" Lin vowed, "from the air" she reboarded her airship and took off again but left her officers behind having instructed them to go looking for Korra on foot

*

Lin quickly took the airship to a suitable height, she knew Korra could handle the weather and the cold but it felt as if her heart stopped whenever she thought about what Korra could've been doing out there all on her own. "shit!" she swung the airship around and started circling the city, looking for any trace of blue against the white when she saw them, footprints heading due east. "finally!!" she pointed her airship in that direction and forced the airship to fly as fast as possible along the trail, had there been any snow at all, she wouldn't have ever been able to see the trail of footprints. Within ten minutes she had reached the cave, she had thought she had heard a blood curdling scream but thanks to the wind, she wasn't sure. Since the footprints disappeared into the cave Lin shot a metal cable deep into the ice and tethered her airship down before she jumped out and fell the few metres to the icy tundra. Forming a blade out of a cable as she walked, she ventured into the cave and pulled out a torch. The first thing she saw was a river of red flowing down the icy floor towards the entrance, then she lifted the torch and what she saw next would never leave her nightmares. Korra was swinging having attempted to hang herself and there was blood everywhere. She was also not wearing much and her body was already a dark blue. "shit, KORRA!!" Lin screamed, she used her blade to slice through the rope that held Korra's body up and she gently lowered her to the ground. She had bent off her armour and caught the young woman in her arms. "no... No... Please, don't let me be too late" Lin fumbled with freezing hands but managed to find Korra's pulse. "polar bear dog's balls!!" Lin exclaimed, she would have used worse language but at that time her mind was drawing a blank. "stay with me, Korra" Lin whispered gently, "oh Korra, my friend what did you do to yourself?" Lin had managed to carry Korra out of the cave, nearly slipping up once or twice on the blood covered ice and she pulled the airship down to ground level with her cable. "shit" she was beginning to realise how much she cared about Korra, like the daughter she had never had.

*

Lin was gunning the engines as hard as she could but the twenty minute journey back to the palace stretched out for all eternity. At the last moment she flew straight over the palace and towards the hospital instead even though she knew Korra's parents would want to know their daughter was safe, she didn't have the time to stop. She could still feel Korra's pulse through the metal but it was weakening. "why couldn't I have been born a waterbender, or better yet, a bloodbender?" Lin wondered out loud. She had loaded huge chunks of ice and had packed it around Korra, reducing her to a near cryonic state but even though Lin was shivering and near hypothermia herself, it was still not enough. Lin focused her attention on the wounded young avatar and slowly became aware of something inside of her blood. "metal... Inside the blood?" Lin muttered, she then focused her attention on herself and found the same, metal in her blood. Lin nearly whooped with delight but she didn't have the time. She focused all her attention on Korra and managed to take control of her blood, forcing it to stay in her body when it would've otherwise seeped out. "atta girl" Lin smiled a little but even though Korra was no longer bleeding out, she knew she had to hurry. She jumped out of the airship without first tying it down and instead bent cables down as she fell. She landed in front of the hospital and barged past everyone. She marched straight past the reception desk, ignoring the receptionist, she tore the doors between the reception area and the rest of the emergency department from the wall and disappeared off to find a medical team who could help her.

*

"Wow..." the nurse whispered, Lin had hollered until what seemed to be half the medical staff were running towards her, this particular nurse among them. Two of the nurses had attempted to pull Lin away but she remained rooted to the same spot she had been sitting in for the past ten minutes, all she had accepted for herself was a blanket. "what happened to her?"

"i think it was an attempt to end her life" Lin replied

"i see" there was a team of eight medical professionals around her with an additional doctor and healer. Kya was off duty but someone had been sent to fetch her. The nurses were busy stitching up Korra's wounds while the doctor and healer supervised, the healer had explained that this sort of injury wasn't easily fixable with healing and it was better to use stitches to tie the wound shut after Kya had taken a look at the wound. The doctor was one of the few that knew Kya was a bloodbender and that she used the illegal skill to save some of the more difficult cases.

*

"fuck the spirits" Kya muttered, she had studied the wounds for less than a minute then she was flexing her fingers and causing the arteries to seal at a much increased rate. She hadn't paid much attention to who was receiving her care nor who was in the room with her, she lived right next to the hospital and was on call most of the time. She sealed the wounds and backed away without even looking down and she had turned and walked off back to bed before Lin had half a chance to call her name

"Sorry she hates doing this, she'd rather get it over and done with as soon as possible"

"fair enough"

*

Two painstaking hours, three bags of blood and hundreds of stitches later, Korra's arm, leg and neck wounds were closed. "she still ought to have another bag of blood" the doctor warned

"Shit. Those wounds are gonna scar no matter what healing we do" the healer muttered

Lin was shivering now and get fingers and toes were still blue so the doctor ordered another bed be moved into the room where Lin could sleep after she had had a healing session. Kya had returned and had vowed to watch over Korra until Lin had returned, the only lingering concern being for Korra's fingers and toes some of which had gone black from lack of blood and oxygen. "Lin told me what you tried to do Korra" Kya sighed, "I'm so sorry"

"It's not your fault" Lin had returned with a bit more colour in her face and a more natural hue to her fingers and toes after her warm healing bath. Korra, on the other hand was still unconscious and even though she was slowly being warmed by a heated blanket, some of her fingers weren't returning to a normal colour

"shit. Hypothermia" Kya muttered, she formed an ice blade and sliced off three of Korra's toes, one on her right and two on her left as well as slicing two thirds off her ring finger on her right hand and a third off her pinky on her left hand. "Hopefully she won't lose any more." Korra's wounds had been so severe she had to have many stitches on many different levels totalling over five hundred to hold her wounds shut. Korra had four levels of stitches in both of her arms, each needing at least eighteen stitches each and three layers of stitches in both her legs, needing at least forty stitches each, the wounds on her neck only needed a few stitches even if they had needed four layers each. Korra had been surrounded by medical staff while they tried to save her life but once all the hustle and bustle had gone, Lin found herself sitting with Kya and keeping a constant vigil on Korra while she led there unconscious

*

"What happened to my baby?!" Senna had finally ran into the ward a few hours after they had finished treating Korra's wounds, there were curtains around Korra's bed at Lin's insistence. Lin knew Korra wouldn't want to be seen in such a sorry state

"Senna, Tonraq, over here" Lin had called.

"Chief Beifong, did you save her?"

"I vowed I would" Lin held the curtain open for them both

Senna and Tonraq both teared up at the sight of their daughter. Physically, she looked as bad as she had done when she had come out of her battle with Zaheer. Her arms and hands were bandaged up as was her neck and they didn't need to look to know that her legs and feet were as well. Senna ran to her daughter's side while Tonraq picked Lin up in a crushing bear hug. "thank you" he sighed

"sweetie..." Senna had noticed Lin was going blue

"sorry" Tonraq released her

"you're welcome, it was nothing really" Lin was rubbing her chest and grimacing, "spirits, sir, you've got quite the hug"

"to you my name is Tonraq" he replied

"and mine is Senna, no more of this 'sir' or 'ma'am' garbage, not now"

"alright, Tonraq, Senna"

"thank you for saving my daughter"

"really, it wasn't any bother, I wasn't going to give up on Korra. She was there for me when I needed someone to depend upon and she risked her life more than once to help me and those I care about so it's really nothing"

"how did you do it?"

"I invented a whole new kind of metalbending" Lin smirked at their awed faces, "i bent the metal in your daughter's blood, sorta like bloodbending for metalbenders"

"wow"

"Lin, would you join me at the palace in a few days?"

"why?"

"Just be there?"

"I'll see what I can do"

*

The rest of the day was spent talking about Korra, her recovery and how much progress she had made as well as certain aspects of Lin's past. Senna and Tonraq had insisted that Lin come and stay with them in the palace instead of sleeping in a hotel to which Lin had reluctantly agreed. Kya took the first watch, none of them had known then that it would take Korra several months to wake

* Present day *

"Oh mom! You never told us you nearly attempted suicide too!"

"It was a long time ago"

"why?" both Korra and Asami had tears running down their faces

"After Amon took my bending I felt so helpless" Lin replied simply. She and Korra shared a look, it was something they had both considered in the darkest days back then in the aftermath of Amon

"I'm glad you didn't" Asami whispered, she wiped her own face then did the same for Korra and Lin

"So am I" Lin admitted

* Six years ago *

Lin, Kya, Katara, Senna and Tonraq sat around a table in the palace. Korra had been unconscious for nearly two months but she had been deemed stable about a week before. Lin had got back on the trail of her mysterious Red Lotus fugitive using the Southern Water Tribe palace as a staging point for her searches which covered the southern islands and the icy tundra. Kya had helped Katara move in to the palace for the time that Korra remained unconscious, she, Kya and Senna were spending their time scouring their healing library and another healing library lost deep in the spirit world for a way to heal Korra's scars while Tonraq did his duty as the Chief. They hadn't found anything until earlier that morning but when they did they called an immediate meeting. "we found something." Senna had started, she took out a book and handed it around to everyone in the group. "A way to conceal Korra's scars"

"great!" Tonraq exclaimed

"should we really be hiding them?" Lin had asked

"Lin, if she doesn't remember them that would be such a blessing"

"I'm not sure hiding it would be right"

"Who cares?" Senna snapped, "you know as well as I do that Korra has been through enough traumas in her short life, even if she does remember, she will thank us for hiding those scars from the world" she traced the line up her own arm where Korra's biggest scar was. It went from her wrist to her elbow and the scar was already fully formed. It was at least a centimetre wide all along apart from at the ends and about half a centimetre high. "she deals badly with trauma, we know that now"

"doesn't everyone?"

"i can't speak for anyone other than my daughter"

"we need to hide it, and this is the way"

"I object but since you're determined, I can't stop you" Lin had grumbled

"the White Jade Bush must be boiled and the resulting steam must be collected and mixed in with alcohol and spirit water, this acts to reduce the appearance of the scarring when injected while the skin is being healed"

"let's do it" Senna led the small group into Korra's room where they quickly got to work while Lin sat alone at the table, glowering on the direction of the voices.

"don't come crying to me if it goes wrong" she hissed before she went to walk away from the group

"going somewhere?"

"Tonraq?"

"Are you going somewhere?"

"yes, away from the stupidity"

"You promised you'd hang around?"

"Fine"

*

It was nearly midnight on the night of a full moon and Tonraq was stood on the roof of the palace in the moon's glow with Senna, Kya and Katara as witnesses. "Lin Beifong, may these human witnesses and the moon bare witness these markings, the mark of the trusted. You are now an honorary member of the Water Tribe, I also declare you to be my sister and therefore a member of our family"

Lin teared up as she was hugged by both Senna and Tonraq

"You now have the right to take part in elections of government officials, elections for choosing the next Chief, the full protection of the Southern Water Tribe's military forces and the right to be buried along with previous Chiefs and their families"

"I don't know what to say... Thank you"

"You're also always welcome here, sister. I shall make sure to pass word on to Eska and Desna and they'll make sure you get a reception worthy of your title and position in the North as well"

"You don't have to do any of that"

"yes. I do. You saved my daughter's life"

*

Five weeks later, Korra left for Republic City not at all aware that she had been unconscious for three months and not at all aware of her suicide attempt

* Present day *

"and that as they say, was that" Lin smiled serenely down upon her daughters, "i love you two and I'm so glad you chose to let me become your mother"

"Any time, mom"

"Korra! Lin! Asami! Kylia is awake!"

Korra smiled happily and ran out of the room to where Kylia was, followed closely by Lin and Asami...


End file.
